Damp, Mould and Hygiene in Communal Hallways: A Guide for Managing Agents and Block Managers

Damp and mould are usually discussed as a problem inside flats, but the hallways, stairwells and bin stores that residents pass through every day are just as exposed to moisture, and they sit with the managing agent or landlord. The Housing Act 2004 treats the common parts of a building containing flats as residential premises, so a damp or mould hazard in a communal area can be assessed and enforced in the same way as one inside a dwelling.

The most useful thing a communal cleaning contractor can give you is early warning: someone who walks the common parts on every visit, photographs what they find and reports it to you in writing. This guide sets out what the law requires, where cleaning helps and where it doesn’t, and how to write that routine into your specification.

How Big Is the Problem?

The English Housing Survey 2024–25 found that 1.4 million dwellings (5%) had a problem with damp in 2024, an increase on 2022. Damp was more common in the private rented sector (10%) than in social rented (7%) or owner-occupied homes (4%), and the most common form was severe condensation (English Housing Survey 2024–25, GOV.UK).

Those figures describe dwellings, not shared spaces, and we have not found an equivalent national figure for hallways and stairwells. But the causes are the same: moisture from people, weather and plumbing meeting cold surfaces and poor ventilation. In many blocks, a problem in a communal area can go unnoticed between inspections until someone with authority to act sees it.

Why It Matters: Health and Legal Exposure

GOV.UK’s guidance on damp and mould says these hazards “predominantly affect the airways and lungs”, with effects including cough, wheeze and shortness of breath. Children, older people, pregnant women and anyone with a respiratory condition or weakened immune system are most at risk (GOV.UK, Understanding and addressing the health risks of damp and mould). UK Health Security Agency research estimated that damp and mould in English homes were associated with around 5,000 cases of asthma and 8,500 lower respiratory infections in 2019 (UKHSA).

Under section 1(4) of the Housing Act 2004, “residential premises” covers a dwelling, an HMO, unoccupied HMO accommodation and any common parts of a building containing one or more flats, with common parts including common facilities provided for the occupiers of the flats. HHSRS guidance treats damp and mould growth as a hazard to be assessed, and a Category 1 hazard places a duty on the local authority to take enforcement action (HHSRS operating guidance, GOV.UK). The same duties apply to student halls and HMOs, which we cover in our student accommodation cleaning guidance.

The same message comes from the Housing Ombudsman. Its 2021 Spotlight report found maladministration in 56% of the 410 damp and mould complaints it investigated over two years, and pointed to two recurring failures: over-reliance on residents, and no clear ownership of getting complaints resolved (Housing Ombudsman, Damp and mould: it’s not a lifestyle). That report concerns social landlords, but the lesson transfers to any block: someone must own the problem, and the evidence must exist.

The Four Types of Damp, and Where They Show Up in a Block

GOV.UK’s damp and mould guidance identifies four main types. Which one you are dealing with decides who needs to fix it, which is why a cleaner’s report should describe what is seen and where, not guess at a cause.

• →Condensation: the most common type, caused by moisture from cooking, bathing and laundry condensing on cold surfaces. In communal areas it tends to appear on window reveals, external-wall corners and in stairwells with little airflow.
• →Penetrating damp: water entering through external defects such as faulty gutters, roofs, cladding or window seals. Look for staining that follows rainfall and is worst on top floors and external walls.
• →Rising damp: ground moisture travelling up walls and floors, typically seen at ground-floor lobbies and basement-level spaces.
• →Traumatic damp: water from leaking pipes, risers or flooding, including leaks from flats above. Staining that grows below pipework or around ceiling fittings is the usual sign.

Stairwells and landings are often the first place condensation shows up in a block.

Cleaning Is Not the Cure

The single most important line in the GOV.UK guidance is this: “Simply removing surface mould will not prevent the damp and mould from reappearing.” Landlords are expected to identify and tackle the underlying cause promptly. A contractor who wipes mould off a stairwell ceiling every month without reporting it is hiding the problem, not solving it.

That does not make routine communal cleaning irrelevant. Dirt, dust and standing water all make moisture problems harder to see, and the people who walk the building every week are best placed to notice change. A sensible split of responsibilities is below. The first column is what to write into your specification; the second is what to keep out of it.

Whether light surface mould is cleaned as part of routine visits is a decision to make in the contract, with a written risk assessment and suitable products and PPE. Anything extensive or recurring should be passed to a specialist remediation contractor.

Who Is Responsible, and Who Pays?

In a leasehold block, leaseholders usually fund communal cleaning and maintenance through the service charge, and the law sets limits on what can be recovered. Section 19 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 says costs can only be included to the extent they are reasonably incurred, and where they relate to services or works, those must be of a reasonable standard. Leaseholders can challenge both the amount and the standard in the First-tier Tribunal.

For a managing agent or RTM director, that is the commercial case for evidence. If residents ask why they are paying for communal cleaning while a stairwell wall is visibly wet, the answer is much stronger with a dated record showing what was cleaned, what was reported, to whom, and what happened next. It also separates cleaning from repair: the service charge funds both, but they have different owners, and your records should show which is which.

What Awaab’s Law Changes

Awaab’s Law applies to social landlords in England. Phase 1 came into force on 27 October 2025 and covers emergency hazards and damp and mould that pose a significant risk of harm. GOV.UK guidance sets these timeframes (Awaab’s Law: timeframes for repairs in the social rented sector, GOV.UK):

• →Significant hazards: investigate within 10 working days of becoming aware, provide a written summary within 3 working days of the conclusion, and complete safety work within 5 working days once a significant hazard has been identified.
• →Emergency hazards: investigate and carry out safety work within 24 hours of becoming aware.
• →Communal areas: those the landlord is responsible for are in scope, but a hazard in a communal part of a mixed-tenure building that the social landlord is not responsible for is not.

Phase 2 begins on 30 November 2026 and extends the same approach to further hazards, including excess cold and heat, falls, structural collapse, fire and explosions, electrical hazards and domestic hygiene. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 provides for similar requirements to be applied to private tenancies, with the detail to be set in secondary regulations, so private-sector timeframes are not yet fixed.

For a private block, Awaab’s Law does not currently apply directly, and the clock in those rules starts when a landlord becomes aware of a hazard, not when a cleaner photographs it. But the timeframes are a useful yardstick for your own process: if it takes weeks to get a photographed hallway issue in front of someone who can act, the gap is worth closing.

Warning Signs to Report

A Communal Area Inspection Routine

You do not need a specialist survey to spot trouble early. A short, repeatable walk-through on every cleaning visit, with the same points checked in the same order, catches most developing problems. Agree these locations with your contractor and have them recorded.

Hygiene and Fire Safety in Common Parts

Moisture is only part of communal hygiene. Bin stores, refuse chutes, lift buttons, handrails and entrance doors are the shared surfaces that collect the most contamination and complaints. Keeping bin stores clean and well drained removes a common source of smells and pests, and frequent attention to high-touch points is a basic expectation of any reasonable specification. Frequencies and standards are covered in our communal area cleaning standards guide.

Cleaning also has to respect fire safety. Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, responsible persons in multi-occupied residential buildings must tell residents that fire doors should be kept shut when not in use, and in blocks with a top storey above 11 metres they must check communal fire doors at least every three months (GOV.UK fire door fact sheet). In practice, that means cleaning teams should never wedge fire doors open, never interfere with self-closing devices, and never leave equipment or waste in escape routes. It is worth stating this in the specification, and cleaners who see a damaged door can report it as part of their normal visit.

Putting It Into Your Specification

• →The named walk-through of inspection points on every visit, with a written note even when nothing is found.
• →Timestamped photographs with a precise location for any sign of damp, mould, staining or leaks, sent promptly to a named contact.
• →A clear boundary: what gets cleaned in the visit, and what is passed to a specialist.
• →Fire door and escape-route rules written into the scope.

Klean Touch provides communal area cleaning for London blocks of flats and managed properties. Every visit comes with timestamped photo reporting, cleaners holding their own DBS checks (evidence on request), staff absence cover and flexible contracts, and we offer a free site visit to scope your building. This article is general information, not legal or surveying advice.

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