Every council home in Renfrewshire is set to get a sensor that monitors for the conditions that cause damp and mould, with the rollout due to be finished within the next four years.

Around 1,000 council homes already have the environmental sensors fitted, according to a progress report going to the council's Communities and Housing Policy Board at Renfrewshire House in Paisley on Tuesday 27 October. The sensors keep track of conditions inside a home, so problems can be spotted and dealt with early rather than after mould has taken hold.

The report says the move now sits under Awaab's Law, the new legal duties on landlords to investigate and fix damp and mould hazards within set timescales.

A year into the five-year plan

The sensors are one part of the council's Housing Asset Management Strategy for 2025 to 2030, which sets out how it looks after and invests in its housing stock. This is the first yearly update on the plan's 45 actions, and council officers say it's on track, with no significant concerns so far.

The figures in the report include:

  • £43.8m was spent improving council housing in 2025/26, with a further £218.9m planned from 2026/27 to 2029/30, towards a target of at least £292m over the five years.
  • £30m of investment is planned for the area's multi-storey flats. Two of the five multi-storeys with gas heating are being switched to clean heating using ground source heat, and two more are earmarked for the council's proposed district heating network.
  • 80.9% of council homes met the Scottish Housing Quality Standard last year. The aim is to get above 90% by 2030.
  • Tenant satisfaction with the repairs service rose from 77.2% to 78.8%.
  • Approved adaptations for disabled and older tenants took an average of 19.4 days to complete, well inside the 30-day target.

Net zero waiting on Holyrood

Some work has been pushed back a year, to 2027/28, because the Scottish Government hasn't yet published its final Social Housing Net Zero Standard. That includes the council's strategy for energy efficiency and clean heating and hot water, and its analysis of what it will cost to bring homes up to the new standard.

The council's standard for re-letting empty homes has already been updated to include net zero measures. Tenants also had a say this year: representatives from the Tenant Scrutiny Panel, tenants' and residents' associations and the Quality Circle groups were shown the five-year investment plan, along with examples of clean heating, at an event in May, and the council plans to hold more.

The report is for councillors to note, so no decision is needed.