AIBU? For thinking we should leave our house immediately?

OMG I would definitely get your kids out of there! Black mould is dangerous, especially for the baby, if it gets in their lungs. That looks horrendous. Definitely report to environmental health too.

Awaab's law has just come in. If your child is feeling ill already, leave. Take lots of photographs. Contact the landlord immediately. Get some legal advice which may mean you may be able to get out of still being rent liable.

I developed M.E. after exposure to black mould. I have now been sick and unable to work for ten years.

Now, when I am exposed to it again, even in tiny quantities, I spit blood.

Leave. It is exceptionally dangerous.

Im betting money the landlord already knows

get out asap. There was a terrible case in Rochdale where a baby died caused by mould. Your husband is being totally unreasonable and neglectful.

Try calling Shelter, they may be able to
advise.

I'm shocked that you're even asking. Leave as soon as you can.

The hidden toys were for Christmas 🤣 we didnt just have random hidden toys lol

This happened to us OP in a house we privately rented. It was inside all the cupboards and up the walls and ruined toys we had hidden in a cupboard. One night our small son stopped breathing and went floppy but came too after me shaking him awake - rushed to hospital. The damp was suspected to have caused this and our doctor wrote a letter for us, environmental health came out and said it was damp caused by condensation and poor ventilation.

Landlord tried to hand me little condensation things to put on windows and I went lost it, my son could have lost his life, he hated me after this as i was ringing him constantly demanding he fixed this. He had people come out and put in vents and filled the walls with something I cant remember what it was, it was an end house and was so cold in winter even with the walls injected or whatever it was. But still the damp came back, i was bleaching walls every few days it was a nightmare. The whole house smelt like mold/weed smell.

I applied for social housing and gathered some points, the landlord called out randomly oke day and said he was selling the house, this bumped my points up to include homeless/threatened with homelessness. I got some points for the damp and various other points and was allocated a council house. I still think about those horrible days it was awful. I would take this seriously and be so careful if you have young children as some molds can be deadly. The mold we had was black and like a fluffy texture and grew up the walls and coated anything nearby as well.

*the mould is dangerous. Not an inhaler!

If you can afford to do so, I would. Back in 2000 I lived in a student flat which had terrible mould problems, and had the same issue of discovering a wardrobe full of clothes covered in mould. Whilst I lived there I developed a horrible cough which the GP thought might be asthma. I was sent for a chest x ray and prescribed an inhaler. A month after moving out all my respiratory issues cleared up and I never needed the inhaler. It’s incredibly dangerous.

Is there a cellar?

I wouldn't sleep there.

Sounds like rising damp. If there is creeping mould on the exterior, that's a structural issue that needs rectifying ASAP.

From Shelter:

Damp and mould in private rented homes

I would be doing everything in my power to move out of a place with mould as bad as that. It's a terrible health hazard.

@WiddlinDiddlin spot on.

If its an old period property and has all been sealed up with modern plaster not lime, its just not going to work.

What temperature do you have it at? It will probably respond best to being left at a constant 18, as opposed to falling rapidly overnight and being blasted with central heating for an hour or two. Open the windows wide every morning for half an hour without fail & don't dry any washing indoors, pans need lids, window open when showering, kettle next to an open window to allow steam to escape.

I think that you should move out if you can. Make sure the mould has been reported to your landlord - take lots of pictures and send pictures to your landlord.

Personally what I would do - and I know it is not the legally correct thing is tell the landlord (in writing) that we are moving out and that we won't be paying further rent as the contract is frustrated as the cottage is not fit for habitation.

Yes you are liable for the rent but to pursue that the landlord would have to take you to court. I would hope that they wouldn't have the cheek to take you to court with the property in that condition and I would also hope that the court would listen to your side of the argument that the cottage is uninhabitable. It is a chance I would take anyway if I had somewhere else to live.

If you don't have somewhere else to live you could try getting the Council's environmental health involved to get it dealt with or help you find new housing (which might be another private rental).

If it's an old cottage I wonder if it has a cement based render rather than lime based? Stone walls need to breathe and cement doesn't allow that and ends up causing damp problems. I know it's not your problem but worth knowing in your fight back against your landlord if they try to blame your lifestyle.

That could affect your health surely ?

Yeah, I'd be raising it with the landlord and looking up the legalities.

It isn't often as simple as 'you need to ventilate more/run the heating more' though - as another poster touched on, some old properties are designed to be heated by fires, which heat the stone as well as the air. This heat then radiates out even after the fires are out, so the switch between warm/cold is much more gradual.

And you're meant to open windows to cool down, which is practical if you have fires burning but not practical if running central heating...

Some of these old properties have had damp proof courses fitted and impermeable insulation in the walls - but that doesn't help when the building is meant to breath, it'll stop water coming in from below ground floor level, or from outside in general.. but it also stops moisture travelling OUT from the inside - that moisture is produced by respirating animals (you) and by our activities - washing up, bathing, showering, drying wet laundry, running ineffecient dryers.

Put humans and their stuff and their actions into a property - seal that property up - heat the air not the structure so you get rapid fluctuations between hot/cold... you will get damp inside and you will then get mould.

And on top of all that, some very old properties were never really possible to manage well anyway, as they were badly constructed.

So long story short - likely this isn't resolvable by you or by the landlord, the property is not suitable as a rental and needs management that is beyond what a tenant can do.

Yes you need out. Find another place…

I thought my damp old rented late 1900s cottage was bad as the fireplace has been decommissioned so heating solid stone with central heating is impossible and keeping on top of the stinky kitchen cupboards and cold areas is a pain, but yours is far far worse and I'd definitely not want to be breathing in that air.

It's throughly depressing to live with that kevel of damp and mould and really shouldn't be allowed to be rented out!

Move out ASAP and i’d be taking the child alone if partner wants to stay. My work involves raising aware around the dangers of poor air quality - Children and babies are most vulnerable and, i’m sorry if this frightens you but they can die quickly from exposure to mould. Get out now. And seek medical treatment asap for babies cough. Xx

Awaab’s law - check it out and all the press around it. A little boy died when he developed a severe cough in a mould investor house. Personally, I think you need to remove your baby immediately. It is very unsafe

This doesn't apply to private landlords yet, only social.

This.