Mold help!

[coffeeandbooks]

We've been living in our rented flat for nearly a year now and have had some issues with quite visible and large amounts of black mold (inside a certain cabinet, walls and windowsills). We are able to wipe it off usually with an antibacterial wipe but how can we make sure it doesn't come back? I'm getting sick from it I think with constant sore throats and fatigue. Landlord won't do anything.

I'm actually calling the GP on Monday about getting a mold toxicity blood test done to see if that shows anything that may help our case with the landlord.

We have dehumidifiers in every room.

Thanks

It's a basement flat for reference. Quite large and airy

Following with interest.
My dds tenants have moved out and left a lot of mould behind, which her family didn’t have when they lived there.
I’m in a similar property , and dry washing on the radiator but I don’t have that problem.
Is the room well heated and well ventilated? Cold damp rooms can attract it.
Do the outside walls need repointing.
Just guessing, I’m sure someone else will come to help

If it wipes off it is mildew from not being heated and ventilated enough normally. For you dry washing inside without opening windows as this is the usual cause.

You need to use a proper mildew and mould killer or it will just keep coming back.

Can you move? You say the landlord won’t do anything. All the time you battle with him/her, you’re breathing in mould.

It's condensation mildew.

You say you have dehumidifiers in each room, I am guessing you mean the gel ones. Buy a decent electric one, it should overcome any washing, breathing, non ventilation issues. Or ask your landlord if they would buy one... many do.

And use something like HD mould spray to kill the spores.

@Dowser morning! We don't dry washing on the radiators and specifically got a tumble dryer to hopefully help but no improvements :( The previous tenant also had the same issue as he's actually the maintenance man.

The flat is very cold as well so I don't know if that has anything to do with it? We have heaters and use the heating of course but it's very expensive as it's an old boiler so tend to just use plug in radiators.

We've also tried insulating the place with insulated curtains and wallpaper.

@Terminallysleepdeprived Thank you for the advice! We do keep it ventilated but I will try leaving windows open for longer to see if that makes a difference.

It's been confirmed as black mold by the maintenance man and landlord- they had to remove a cupboard due to it being so bad in there. It can wipe off with a scrub if it hasn't been there long. Just grows back unfortunately

@ekidmxcl We have only been here since March last year and it took us over 2 years to find a somewhat decent place that would accept a dog in our price range. We really love the flat itself but are planning to move within 2 years or so after saving for a larger home.

@CuriousaboutSamphire I will ask the landlord! Thank you for the suggestion. It's the gel ones at the moment. We've spent so much money on the place already and the landlord just doesn't contribute anything.

(Thermal wallpaper as the heating is too expensive due to old boiler, decorating, fixing water pressure and broken bathroom, filling in holes etc).

We had a rat issue in the beginning, the upstairs flats and our courtyard were infested. Thankfully we didn't have any in our home though. Took ages to sort out as the landlord put it off for ages!

Depending on your finances, could they get a dehumidifier?

You can buy a relatively small one for about £50.

Black, sooty mould is due to ventilation and heating.

If that is an external wall, it sounds like it isn't well insulated and needs good air circulation.

You need proper mould killer, anti-bac wipes are useless.
Try Polycell 3-in-1 Mould Killer Spray, 500 ml

Also the mould will be from condensation. You need a good electric dehumifier or keep a window cracked for a few hours each day to ventilate the flat.
Do you have a vent in your shower/bathroom? If you don’t have a vent or window, you can ask the landlord to install a vent. If all you have is a window, make sure you open it every time you take a shower and for however long afterwards until all moisture has dried.

@PlanDeRaccordement There is a vent, thanks for the tip on window open whilst showering. It's so hard to do at the moment as it's so cold and costs so much to heat the flat up but I guess we will have to put up with it.

Electric dehumidifier is what's needed. How often are you replacing the gel ones?

On the heating issue, yes ventilating does add to the heat bill. But normally even an old gas boiler will be cheaper than plug in electric heaters. Also, you can ask the gas /electric company to spread the cost of the winter bills across the year so you pay the same money every month instead of really high bills in winter and no bill in summer.

@Gingernaut We could afford a £50 one but honestly I don't think we should pay for it. The landlord has known about this from previous tenants and done nothing.

We have spent so much on the flat already. He wouldn't even sort our water pressure out (we bought a new shower head but no difference, plumber quoted £300-500) and he wouldn't have a shower holder installed in our bath so we have to physically hold the shower over our heads to shower!

[quote coffeeandbooks]@PlanDeRaccordement There is a vent, thanks for the tip on window open whilst showering. It's so hard to do at the moment as it's so cold and costs so much to heat the flat up but I guess we will have to put up with it. [/quote]
We have similar issue. No vent in bathroom, so have tomopen the window. We just shut the door to the bathroom while it is airing out so the whole house doesn’t get cold.

@TierFourTears as soon as they fill up- I'd say one every few weeks? I'm not 100% sure as my partner does it.

@PlanDeRaccordement I will look into spreading the bill- it was £300 one month in the winter when we used the beating and hot water as normal. Now we have to ration it and it's still £150 a month for only two of us.

We've had someone look at the boiler and they've said it'll cost the landlord around £25,000 to replace it with a better one as this one is so old it's 4x expensive to have electric!

Open every window and door as wide as possible at the same time for 20 minutes twice a day. This is actually on the tenancy agreement for flats in Europe! Mold can cause horrific long term health issues so better to throw on another jumper and put up with it being cold than keep windows closed, especially when showering. Also sleep with windows ajar.

Your landlord sounds like one I had. When we viewed a house we rented, it had floors in it, but when we moved in there were only a few floorboards with many broken and gaping holes to to dirt under the house (it did not have a concrete foundation). We were told the floors had belonged to the tenant and they had taken them when they moved out. We literally had to install floors in our house to make it liveable at our 100% own cost.

Whatever updates fixes you do, keep before and after pictures so that if the landlord decides to keep your deposit you have more than enough evidence that you are leaving it in better condition than when you got it.

We have this. It is such hard work.

sleep with windows ajar

If you can’t do this, then religiously every morning go round with a towel and wipe up any condensation on the inside of your windows. Then toss towel in your tumble dryer. If you dry it inside that water evaporates and goes right back to the inside of the windows.

Hi op I'm in a similar position, hopeless landlord but like the area, can't afford to move. I ended up giving in & forking out £250 😱 for a big, decent dehumidifier. Wish I'd done it sooner! Place has significantly improved, weirdly it even feels a bit warmer.

@FarquarKumquatsmama I definitely wouldn't sleep with the windows ajar! We're basement level so easy for someone to get in. but I will be opening the windows more definitely.

We rent and have mould in most rooms. The windows are rotten, single glazed and don't close properly so they can't tell us it's not ventilated. We just go around every now and then and clean it all off, it's not an issue in the summer so it's manageable for us. It is pretty horrible to live with though.