Digital technology is steadily influencing how buildings are planned, operated and maintained. Across the housing sector, landlords are adopting new tools to better understand how homes perform day to day – from platforms that monitor building performance and support smarter maintenance planning, to environmental data that helps guide more sustainable decisions.

Organisations that work closely with housing providers, such as Thomas & Adamson – part of Egis Group, are helping landlords put these tools into practice, giving them a clearer view of property conditions.

As regulatory expectations rise, these technologies are becoming increasingly central to managing housing stock, with environmental sensors emerging as a valuable source of real-time insight.

Rising standards for housing quality

Scrutiny of housing quality has intensified across the UK, particularly around damp, mould and poor ventilation. These issues were highlighted by Awaab’s Law, which came into force in England and Wales in October 2025, introducing strict timeframes for investigating, reporting and resolving damp, mould and emergency hazards. While the legislation initially applies to social landlords, its remit is expected to broaden over time, with private landlords likely to be included in the future.

Scotland is following a similar path. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 is expected to introduce duties for both social and private landlords regarding damp and mould, with the Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026 expected to take effect from October 2026.

These regulations will establish clear, statutory expectations for identifying and addressing hazards within fixed timeframes, such as investigating reported issues within 10 working days. For organisations managing large housing portfolios, ensuring homes remain consistently safe and habitable will require greater oversight and more reliable data to meet these new compliance deadlines.

How sensors give landlords a clearer picture

Meeting these rising expectations is materially easier when landlords can combine traditional inspections with better in-home intelligence, particularly for repeat or complex cases. Environmental sensors are proving to be one of the most practical tools for achieving this, giving landlords real-time insight into what is happening behind closed doors.

These small, non-invasive devices track key metrics including temperature, relative humidity, dew point, and carbon dioxide levels. Analysed together, the data shows whether a home is well-ventilated, at risk of condensation or damp, or experiencing conditions that could affect residents’ health. A typical three-bedroom property may require only two or three sensors, all discreet, wireless, and powered by long-life batteries, which means that hard-wiring is avoided.

At scale, relying only on reactive reports and ad-hoc inspections can make it harder to hit the fixed timescales consistently – particularly where access is delayed or the root cause is intermittent. While sensors are not mandated, they can be a highly effective compliance enabler, supporting faster triage, prioritisation, and providing a defensible digital record against the statutory timeframes.

Through Thomas & Adamson’s partnership with remote monitoring specialists iOpt, sensors can be installed across social housing stock alongside wider surveying work, providing efficiencies, continuous insight and removing much of the guesswork typically involved in assessing property performance.

From installation to actionable insight

Combining baseline surveys with sensor installation turns a one-off visit into a continuous source of intelligence. At the point of installation, building surveyors can complete baseline damp and mould surveys, establishing a clear reference position against which future sensor data can be compared. This integrated approach – survey, sensor installation and ongoing monitoring – links what surveyors see in the fabric of the building with what residents experience day to day.

Once in place, sensors transmit readings via SIM cards to the cloud, where the data is analysed and presented through dashboards covering entire portfolios. This allows landlords to spot early warning signs quickly. For example, a sustained rise in relative humidity may signal the onset of condensation, damp or water ingress, triggering a targeted inspection rather than a routine visit.

Carbon dioxide data provides a strong indication of occupancy patterns, helping landlords identify void properties, evidence ventilation effectiveness, and understand occupant exposure risk, supporting targeted advice and follow-up interventions.

Supporting net zero goals and retrofit outcomes

Sensors are also helping landlords demonstrate the impact of energy-efficiency improvements, particularly when public finance is involved. Many funding programmes and retrofit projects require compliance with PAS 2035, the UK standard for whole-house energy upgrades, which places strong emphasis on measuring outcomes.

By installing sensors 12 months before planned upgrades and continuing monitoring afterwards, landlords can compare before-and-after data on temperature, ventilation and heating demand. This provides robust evidence for funding applications, internal reporting, and quality assurance.

Improved insulation may show up as more stable internal temperatures, while better ventilation may appear as reduced carbon dioxide levels. Thereafter, the sensors can be left in place to continue capturing performance data and to support the ongoing management, protection and understanding of the property portfolio.

Moving from reactive to proactive housing management

The growing adoption of sensors marks a shift in how housing providers manage their portfolios, enabling them to move from reactive repairs to proactive asset management. Rather than waiting for issues to be reported or escalate, landlords can act early, improving outcomes for tenants, while using resources more efficiently.

At the same time, clearer, continuous, evidence-driven insight strengthens compliance with legislative obligations, supports energy-efficiency goals, cuts repair costs, and reduces the potential for disputes. As digital tools continue to evolve, environmental sensors are becoming one of the most practical and reliable ways to improve, monitor and understand housing conditions, and an increasingly essential component of social housing management.