It won’t be news to you that damp and mould is a national problem for social landlords, including local authorities. Damp and mould can impact the health of a property and its tenants, with sometimes severe outcomes. 

With the development of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, there is more that landlords can now do to make earlier identification of potential damp and mould issues, and many local authorities are using damp and mould sensors in varying degrees of scope and maturity, including as part of a LOTI project where 18 London boroughs are testing the technology, data and insights.

Before you start the project

In my view, DPOs deliver better for our employers and the individuals whose data is being processed if we not only answer the question asked, but also consider other possible or likely uses of the data and what you may want to do next, beyond the pilot, so that the privacy concerns are looked at holistically. Not least, because it can be time consuming and difficult to change your approach further down the line. For example, if you use consent to collect data for identifying damp and mould only, it will be more difficult for you to use it to identify tenants at risk of fuel poverty to offer support.

Speaking to your DPO when you begin thinking of a project can help you to plan better for a successful outcome. Describe your ambitions (using sensors to identify damp risks), identify where the work crosses departments (like housing and social care to identify those most at risk of damp), and tell us the risks of undertaking or not undertaking your project (property damage and health risks). 

It’s not that simple, context is key

It seemed like a relatively simple question when I was asked to provide a professional view on gathering the outputs of humidity and temperature sensors to help identify potential damp and mould issues. It is data about the property. As well as identifying potential issues for an individual property, matching sensor outputs from multiple properties to data about property composition, age etc, could help to build models of the types of risks and recommended interventions for different property types. It’s all property data for the purpose of maintaining properties.

But is it? As with all data protection questions, context is key. 

So I asked colleagues nationally, read multiple pieces of legislation and industry guidance, considered a local authority’s duties for safeguarding and public health, read dispiriting reports on the severe impact of living with damp and mould, detoured into energy smart meters, and, inevitably, pondered the impact of the state of public sector finances. 

My thoughts on sensors in particular changed during that research and I experienced conflicting views when I spoke to people. I wanted to reflect these different views so the guidance LOTI has published is not a definitive, ‘this is what you must do’, but instead, ‘this is what you should consider’.

Our damp and mould data protection guidance 

To help support social landlords wishing to use damp and mould sensors or process data relating to damp and mould, or local authority officers responsible for housing and public health, or local authority Data Protection Officers (DPOs) or analysts working with damp and mould data, LOTI has published new guidance specifically on the drivers, foundations and data protection considerations for damp & mould-related data projects.

This guidance is designed to provide an overview of the damp and mould landscape and the main legislative and regulatory considerations for using damp and mould sensors and processing personal data relating to damp and mould.  

The content looks at:

• The Housing Ombudsman’s 2021 Spotlight Report on damp and mould.
• Clause 42 of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, sometimes referred to as Awaab’s Law, which requires landlords to investigate and fix reported health hazards within specified timeframes.
• The question of when data is considered personal data.
• Why you should carefully consider asking tenants for consent for sensor use.
• How you can future proof your approach to allow you to develop new use cases.
• The benefits to seeking more from vendors, such as tenant apps.

It covers using data for:

• Property maintenance.
• Compliance with tenancy standards.
• Identifying and supporting tenants at risk of fuel poverty.
• Considering retrofit activities and outcomes.
• Better supporting those with complex health issues impacted by damp and mould.
• Complying with regulator recommendations.

Also included is a reference table highlighting how these types of data processing relate to the recommendations for senior management from the Housing Ombudsman’s 2021 Spotlight Report.

Joining up the dots 

If London boroughs take a more standardised approach, then it will be easier to match data across boroughs and make greater use of it for analysis. This would help to avoid each borough having to individually identify that a particular property composition and location is more likely to experience damp and mould.

I encourage you to undertake an information governance review on your damp and mould projects, as this will help you develop your work, appropriately consider tenant privacy, and make it easier to share learning and use cases across boroughs.

We offer this damp and mould data protection guidance as a jumping off point. As the use and sophistication of sensors evolves, we’ll hopefully move closer to consistency of approach and better collaboration.

Please get in touch, and let us know how you use the guidance and whether you feel there is anything to add or change.