12% of our homes could be dangerous

SHOCKING FIGURES HIGHLIGHT PROBLEMS WHICH INCLUDE DAMP AND MOULD, ASBESTOS, LEAD AND EVEN RADIATION

- CHARLOTTE GREEN

MORE than one in 10 homes in Greater Manchester contains a dangerous health and safety hazard which could pose a serious risk of harm or death, shocking figures have revealed.

Experimental data published for the first time by the government has shown that across all of the region's homes, almost 12 per cent had a 'category one' health and safety hazard. This encompasses nearly 140,000 properties.

This is the most serious category where a hazard poses a serious risk of harm, including death, permanent paralysis, permanent loss of consciousness, loss of a limb or serious fractures.

Where these hazards exist in a home, it fails to meet the statutory minimum standard for housing in England. Examples include damp and mould growth, asbestos, carbon monoxide, excess cold or heat, lead, electrical dangers and even radiation.

This number of properties deemed unsafe increases to nearly 16 per cent of homes in the private rented sector, with 25,483 homes across the region's 10 boroughs estimated to be posing a risk to the people who live there.