Damp and mould report. A printable damp and mould inspection report — where it is, how bad, what is causing it, who is affected and what is being done, recorded properly from the first visit.

Damp and mould reporting has changed from a maintenance matter to a serious regulatory one, and the thing that determines how a case goes is almost always the first report. A record made on the first visit, with photographs, readings and a cause assessed, is what demonstrates a landlord responded; a note saying 'mould in bathroom, advised to ventilate' is what does not.

Assessing a cause matters more than describing the symptom. Condensation, penetrating damp and a failed damp-proof course need different work, and attributing everything to tenant behaviour — the reflex of the trade for thirty years — is the finding most likely to be held against a landlord now.

Who lives there is on the report because vulnerability changes both the urgency and the obligation. A household with a baby or somebody with asthma is not the same case as a professional sharer, and a report that does not record it cannot show the response was proportionate to the risk.

What the tenant was told, and when, is recorded separately from what was done. Communication is the thing most complained about and the easiest to evidence, and the gap between the report and the first substantive response is what an investigation will look at first.