The briefing says "This advice provides an overview for practitioners and landlords about how to deal with damp and mould" in a proactive way which understands tenant experiences, and resolves the underlying issue.

The advice briefing was jointly published by Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO), the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) and the Scottish Housing Regulator.

The publication of the advice comes on the same day that Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) publicly called on the Government to extend the proposed Awaab's Law, announced earlier this month by Secretary of State Michael Gove MP, to the private rented sector. The law, named after 2 year old Awaab Ishak who died from health complications brought on by severe damp and mould in his family home, will set strict parameters on social housing providers for dealing with damp and mould problems and currently will only apply to social providers.

Whilst providing advice for social providers, the Scottish group's briefing paper "Putting Safety First" has insights and suggested procedures (along with case studies) that would be just as useful for private rented sector landlords in dealing with this widespread problem. This is especially so as upcoming rental reform legislation for the PRS will apply the decent homes standard to the sector.

The view underpinning the advice is that landlords must take a professional approach to dealing with damp and mould: "Responding to damp and mould primarily or initially as a lifestyle problem is inappropriate and ineffective".

Helen Shaw, Director of regulation at the Scottish Housing Regulator, said "Ensuring tenants are safe and warm in their homes is a critical priority for all social landlords and we hope that this advice will help support them to keep their tenants' homes free from mould and damp".

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