AIBU? Private Landlord wants to be evict for the following...

[Maddie2019]

Hi all, I’m a little stuck to say the least and am gobsmacked by the morning I’ve had.

We have lived in this rental for the past 3 years and I love the property and the location! We have never paid the rent late and have thrown so much money into being here. The house has a fair amount of problems as of expected for a house built in the 1800’s. We have awful damp issues on the front wall of the property which affects our bedroom and living room, and as the walls are granite they have no cavity wall insulation.

The front wall needs repointing, the loft needs insulation, the chimney stack is leaking so needed to be rebuilt and we are missing a fascia board on the front of the house. Our rent is rather considerate so I’ve been happy to put up with these issues until the landlords can Afford fix.

Landlords came this morning for an inspection and are convinced me and my partner don’t use the heating!! We have a 3 year old, of course we do! The heating tends to come on for 2 hours in the morning and around 6 hours in the evening. They said the damp on the front wall is down to us (we ventilate and heat the property accordingly). I have explained that without a fascia board being on the front the water will run in, particularly
Through the poor pointing where the weather hits the worse.

They called me and my partner liars and that we never use the heating, and even if we do it should be on everyday while we are at work as well as in the evenings to. I disagree with this, we have not got money to burn for heating a property when we are at work!

Because I disagreed they have said we will be served our notice. I’m gobsmacked and don’t know how I should react. The last thing I want is to move, I love it here. Do you have your heating on all day everyday despite not being in? I’m thinking maybe I’m being unreasonable with their request. I have never been raised to have the heating on when you’re not home, I think it’s basically just chucking money at nothing! It’s frustrating when the builder has confirmed the houses issues but they still blame us! Arrrrrgh

So if you wake up and the windows are dripping wet, you open the widows to ventilate the room? Well why would you not just get an old towel and dry the windows? That will mop up the water straight away?

I live in a new(ish) build and sometimes when we wake up there’s a little condensation on the window so we just wipe it with a cloth, same when we get out the shower if there’s condensation.

Damp is more about ventilation than lack of heat. A property that is never heated ,still shouldn't have excessive damp.
Condensation happens when warm air hits a cold wall or window. It doesn't usually happen when the cold air outside is the same temperature as inside.
Your landlord sounds vile. Get some advice from a charity like Shelter.

The window vacuums really do help and quite satisfying to use...

@Panpastels il have a look at these now! I’ve never heard of them! What clever devices

* Our lovely landlords decided to treat us to a whole new fire place being built, to rebuild the chimney stack as it was leaking, and to replaster the double bedroom to be finished before Christmas*

You posted this last month. So presumably he didn’t do this?

From 1 April 2018, allrentedproperty (both domestic and non-domestic) which is to have anew tenancymust have anEPCrating of at least “E”. This requirement also applies to all renewal tenancies to the sametenantfor the same property on or after 1 April 2018. So it isn't in their interests to seek possession as they will have to spend some money to bring it up to an E or seek exemption.

There is some truth in the fact that older period properties do indeed benefit from the heating being kept on tick over at a constant low heat, which keeps the walls warmer and effectively keeps the external damp at bay. However, i hardly think this is all your fault! You ought to have been told about the heating pre tenancy agreement, AND there are overdue repairs. A wall that needs repointing is clearly bad! Maybe this old house isn’t for you, they are money suckers to heat its true and also the landlords a tit who doesn’t want to pay for fair maintenance.

Your situation sounds identical to ours just a few years ago. Honestly? It was the best thing that could have happened to us. It was the kick up the butt we needed to get out of there. As much as we loved the house and the area the damp turned out to be far worse than we realised. When we tried to move our furniture it was full of mold and making us ill. We had no idea.

When we moved out the (also older, very stupid and greedy) landlords gave it a quick spruce-up (hid the mold) and let it to some other unsuspecting tenants for much more money than we'd been paying. Eventually they were forced to do something about the problems and have since had them repaired but surprise surprise are letting out the house for significantly more money than they were getting before.

OP, run away and find somewhere decent. You'll be so much happier when you don't have these dreadful problems with the house playing in your mind!

As others have said, report him to environmental health. But also find yourself a new property with a different landlord who is actually willing to invest in his property.

@Changeembrace they went to put in the log burner which is when they realised the extensive damage which needed fixing. They began to rebuild the chimney stack but it still continued to leek due to the bad pointing. Because the leek was still there it meant plastering had to be put on hold.

It’s disappointing because we have always got on with them so well! Hence why I was totally gobsmacked at there visit today.

I leave my heating on, 7 days a week, 24 hrs per day, 52 weeks of the year. My heating is by an electric heat pump and set on a thermostat. In summer of course the water isn't circulated as the ambient heat is too high but all through the year my house is at a constant temp. No cold or damp spots and I have insulated the roof. There are schemes for assistance with heating and insulation and always consider a heat pump, efficient and good.

I certainly don't have the heating on all day, because I can't afford to. Even when we're at home, it's usually an hour or two in the morning and then I boost as needed in the evening. I do run a dehumidifier some of the time to absorb condensation.

I also use a cloth to clear any condensation in the morning and try to air the rooms for 10 minutes every day. (When my bedroom had single glazed windows, I used a karcher window vacuum because of the amount of water that came off. )

I sleep with a window slightly open, always have. My house is warm, I can't see how much heat escapes because of that. In cold weather the heating is on all day, obviously on a low temp if I'm out but I am indoors a lot being retired.

I'm sure your house is lovely, Maddie but it needs a lot of work. It's awful that you were accused of lying, nobody had the right to do that.

Have a look on Rightmove and see what else you can find in the same area for similar money.

Good luck.

This couldn’t be any better OP and be the Opportunity for you to find somewhere better. We were in an old cottage like this, very old, cold, mouldy, roof leaking and landlords who wouldn’t put their hand in their pocket and fix anything, expensive to heat as also oil heating. We finally moved out when we were offered a housing association property and it’s the best move I ever made! Gas heating, well insulated, things fixed straight away etc.

Old property relet at £40 more expensive than we paid and pretty much as soon as we moved out so nothing fixed. The amount of stuff I had to throw out when we moved because it was mouldy was unreal and I did ventilate and wipe any condensation up as well as keeping windows open a little at night and running the heating as much as we could afford

The damp won’t be great for your little ones. It’s a pain but I would move

Give it a repaint? Why?

Disprove it with bill readings?

We put our heating on when we feel cold even with several layers on, so some days it's on for 3 hours, some days more like 12 hours. Our 3 storey house was built in1810. We never have damp or condensation anywhere because the house has been well maintained.

Revenge evictions are unlawful if you want to stay OP. It might concentrate their minds if you say you are considering Contacting your Council's environmental health dept re the damp. It's in the tenancy contract that LL's contractual obligation is to repair problems. Legally they also have a 'Duty of Care' re tenants health & safety.

That's not on. Call Shelter for advice.

Also keep a paper trail of all emails and letters your landlord sends you.

Yanbu at not having the heating on all day, the number of hours you have it on seems average and perfectly reasonable. Sounds like landlord is trying to shift the blame for poor maintenance. Show your landlord home heating bills/ oil delivery bills, he will then see you are indeed putting the heating on. Tbh I would look at other rental options, you may find something better.

I am a LL and also a cynic. I would suggest your LL wants you to leave as you have lived there for 3 years and law is changing soon possibly will be announced in next budget giving tenants who have lived in property for more than 2 years more rights. So they want you out before law changes forcing them to do all repairs.

The damp expert we had round totally blamed the tenant for never opening the windows. He wasn’t ventilating the house so of course he had damp. Four consecutive baths (said the tenant) but never opened the bathroom window! We’d just replaced the boiler so he had constant hot water as it was running out when he had a tank and he didn’t know why!

Don't repaint the house. It's going to be totally refurbished or sold anyway.