Wandsworth Council is planning to spend over £50,000 on a new system to help housing officers take photos of mould and email reports to tenants—raising questions about whether this is the best use of public money in the midst of ongoing safety and repair concerns.
According to official documents [pdf], the council wants to spend £29,500 on 60 iPads and commit to an annual £22,800 software licence for NEC Go Mobile, an app that will generate automated inspection reports from mould-related visits. The justification: complying with new legislation known as Awaab’s Law, which requires landlords to promptly investigate and act on reports of mould and damp.
Awaab’s Law—named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in 2020 after prolonged exposure to mould in a housing association flat in Rochdale—comes into force in October. It mandates that social landlords not only fix damp and mould within strict timelines but also provide written updates to tenants after inspections.
But critics say Wandsworth’s high-tech response feels over-engineered—especially when simpler, cheaper alternatives exist.
It’s part of a wider change to how Wandsworth is approaching private renting – with a new licensing regime coming into effect next month. But while the council clamps down on private landlords, it would do well to look at its own failed efforts to provide safe and comfortable homes.
A reality check from Denmead House
Despite claims of excellent compliance and results, what the council says contrasts sharply with the lived experience of those who are most affected by damp and mould in Wandsworth.
In May, residents in Denmead House on the Alton Estate reported two weeks of sewage leaks flooding their flats. Having contacted the council repeatedly, then their local councillors, then the head of the council and even Putney’s MP, despairing residents turned to the press. The issue was then finally resolved just two days after the situation was exposed by Putney.news.
That particular saga isn’t over either. Weeks later, the homes may no longer be filling up with waste water but the underside of Denmead House remains roped off, part of the underside of the building has been removed, and residents say they’ve had no further updates from the council despite repeated requests.
Electrical Failures Ignored?
The same housing report justifying the iPad spend also reveals that, at the time of inspection, around 40% of homes and 80% of communal areas did not have an up-to-date electrical safety certificate. The council called this a “minor issue”.
But tell that to residents of Burke Close, where in April multiple gas explosions ripped through homes. Locals have long raised concerns about faulty electrics—and even after full rewiring, power failures continued last week, with reports of missing circuit breakers and other fundamental safety oversights.
Despite multiple reports, the council insists there’s no connection between the explosions and the known electrical faults. All this falls far short of what we should expect from our local council.
It’s hard to square the council’s self-congratulatory tone and heavy spending on new electronic devices with the reality of ongoing outages, smouldering ceilings, and lack of response to basic safety questions.
Value for Money?
The cost of the new system—£491 per iPad and £380 per user per year for software—puts it in the top tier of housing inspection tools. Alternatives like Microsoft Power Apps, GoCanvas, or Fulcrum offer similar functionality at a fraction of the cost and are already in use by other councils and housing associations.
Even within NEC’s own system, the Go Mobile module is not essential for compliance—it’s simply an add-on to produce formatted PDFs and upload inspection data. The council could achieve the same result with simple digital forms, email templates, and some basic IT support.
According to the council, over 1,600 mould cases were completed since March 2023, and the dedicated removal team has a 95% satisfaction rate. But even in those cases, delays, unclear communication, and poor follow-up remain common themes, especially for vulnerable or less vocal tenants.
So while the council says the new software will “ensure compliance” and make life easier for tenants, a high-tech solution isn’t going to automatically fix what many residents actually want: someone to show up, fix the problem, and keep them informed—none of which requires an iPad.
Lack of transparency and accountability
At a time when public trust in housing safety is already eroding, Wandsworth’s decision to spend tens of thousands on iPads and software to automate emails—while sidestepping deeper questions about response times, safety failures, and transparency—risks looking like window dressing.
Especially when sewage is still leaking, lights keep going out, and answers remain in short supply.
