A study claims as many as a fifth of private renters in the UK have developed an illness due to issues related to their properties with damp, mould and lack of heating apparently the most likely causes of sickness.

The survey, from Hillarys, asked 2,092 UK renters if they’d ever developed an illness or medical condition as a result of a problem within a rented home.

Some 19 per cent claimed they had, broken down as colds and ‘flu (29 per cent), asthma attacks (22 per cent), allergic reactions (18 per cent), chest infections (14 per cent) and eczema flare-ups (12 per cent).

Of the 19 per cent overall making the claim that they had property-related illness, only a minority – 47 per cent – visited a GP or pharmacist for treatment and 38 per cent confessed they ignored the problem until it went away. 

The survey claims the remaining 15 per cent apparently went to hospital to have their problems remedied. 

When asked to disclose what they believed caused their illness, the most common answers were lack of central heating in bedrooms, mould in bathrooms, damp in living rooms, leaks from windows, and mould in kitchens.

Of the 74 per cent who claimed that their landlords refused to fix the illness-causing problems, two thirds stated that they no longer lived in the home that had caused their medical issue.