For private landlords, letting agents and property managers
The 2026 regulations are not only a social housing matter. They apply to private residential tenancies from the same date, with the same timescales.
What applies to you
From 6 October 2026, a house must be substantially free from damp and mould as part of the repairing standard, and once you become aware of a report you have:
- 10 working days to complete an investigation
- 3 working days to give the tenant written findings
- 5 working days to start any work needed
Where you cannot comply for reasons outside your control, you must tell the tenant in writing, explain why, give a reasonable timescale, and take reasonable steps meanwhile.
The evidence problem is worse for a small portfolio
A council has systems. A landlord with four flats has a phone, a text thread and a memory. When a tenant applies to the First-tier Tribunal, "I sorted it fairly quickly" is not evidence — and a WhatsApp thread is not a maintained record.
What it does for a smaller portfolio
One link per property
Give tenants a link or QR code. Reports arrive in one place with a date and time attached, instead of scattered across texts and voicemails.
It tells you when to act
You do not need to know how Scottish working days are counted. The deadline is worked out and counted down for you.
A file you can hand over
If a case is ever challenged, export it: dates, findings, photographs, works and an integrity statement, in one document.
Agents: every landlord separately
Letting agents and property managers can hold cases across a managed portfolio while keeping each landlord's evidence trail distinct.
Photographs that stay put
Tenant and inspection photographs are stored encrypted against the case, with the date they were taken — not lost in a camera roll.
Checks after the repair
Automatic 7, 30 and 90-day checks. If damp returns, you find out from your own follow-up rather than from a tribunal application.
A word on tenant advice
DampFix includes practical guidance for tenants on ventilation, heating, drying clothes, using extractor fans and reporting leaks early. That guidance is genuinely useful and it is included.
What it will never do is let that advice close a case. Condensation is frequently a symptom of a cold surface, poor ventilation or a building defect rather than of how someone lives. The findings form requires building defects, leaks, insulation, heating and ventilation to be considered alongside occupancy — and asks the technician to say how confident they are.
Reaching for "lifestyle" as a first explanation is what produced the cases that led to this legislation.
Get set up before the duties commence
Being able to show a dated record from day one is worth considerably more than scrambling for it after a complaint.