Hundreds of Woking council homes are failing to meet minimum standards annual figures reveal, and the real figure could be even worse with more than 400 still to be examined.

The decent homes standard sets a minimum quality for rented homes to ensure they are safe, well maintained, and be free from serious damp and mould hazards.

These obligations were strengthened following the introduction of Awaab’s Law after two-year-old Awaab Ishak died in 2020 from prolonged mould exposure.

Of the 2,488 homes surveyed in Woking, 328 were identified as be below minimum standards – with 446 of the most difficult to access still to be surveyed.

Overall the survey found the majority of housing stock to be in a reasonable state of repair but will require continued investment the Tuesday, July 21 meeting of Woking Borough Council’s communities and housing committee heard.

Officers said the high number of failing properties was not a surprise as it had focused on fire-safety remedial works, such as the cladding replacement at the Lakeview Estate, leading to an underinvestment in its overall housing stock.

The state of homes was the number one complaint among residents to the council, with damp and mould problems accounting for a quarter of those.

Officers told the meeting: “From the properties that were surveyed 329 were deemed to be non-decent, so that’s a 13 per cent non-decent rate against the council’s housing portfolio – but that doesn’t take into account the non-accessed properties.”

Failures included heath and safety issues, temperature, as well as the age and state of repair of kitchens and bathrooms.

Officers added: “What’s important is that we need to ensure decent home failures can be rectified from a financial point of view.

“There is a 30-year business plan in place but will need to be fully reviewed on the back of the stock condition survey.

“We strongly believe that the scope of the work identified is affordable both in the 30 year plan but also in the short term, five years, so we haven’t identified any key risks around lack of affordability to get work commissioned.

“We do recognise that there are a number of components failing, a quite high number of components failing in year one and we would definitely need to apply something to that to ensure a good delivery service to customers.”

The council said it is working with another company to help access and assess the remaining homes, considered more complex, and may look to use a resident liaison officer to build bridges.

Officers added: “The issue is gaining access, which is why our assets team has brought on a resident liaison function. It will be interesting because sometimes with non-access, there are underlying reasons for that, so we want to try to identify those reasons.”