Wibu to ask to use rent money to fix the damp?

[melononapear]

I probably have phrased that quite awkwardly but basically when I moved into my current property the landlady said there were a few things that needed fixing/adding to the place but since I needed to move in quickly I was happy to have them done after I was in. She was also fine with this.

She has mentioned several times that the bit where the bedroom is (which has a flat roof), needs to have some guttering added and a downpipe fitted as when it rains the water runs straight down the sides and she didn't want it to soak in over time and damage the walls. It still hasn't been done, and I can't afford to have it done myself so I am entirely dependent on her to get it sorted.

I didn't think there was any particular rush but recently I moved some furniture that was in that corner and have discovered that actually the water has caused some damage and now there is a big brown water mark, and some mould growing along the edge where the guttering should be. Obviously I will clean this as best as I can but even after that it will still look awful.

Structural stuff/guttering aside (which now is really a priority but there is really nothing I can do about that on my own) Wibu to ask her if I can take a small amount of the rent money to repaint the room with specialist paint to stop the damp coming through in the meantime? I would be totally happy to pay for this myself and have already paid for other bits in the property but I'm on benefits at the moment due to corona and I have literally no spare income, especially for expensive paint.

She is generally a good landlady and I don't want to cause any problems!

The damp paint wont stop water coming through. The mould can be cleaned with mould spray. I would ask her to pay for the paint and the cost of having the room repainted. Are you doing it yourself.

Why are you paying for it at all, she should be paying for it. Just keep on at her to fix it.

Yes I would be doing it myself, I already have all the gear (brushes, rollers etc) from repainting other rooms and I know I can do a good job 😊

I also already have the mould cleaner so I'll be cleaning off as best as I can with that before doing anything but my concern is that there is damp in the wall now which will continue to spread and stain so if I don't treat it with some kind of sealant/damp proofing stuff it will just ruin whatever paint I put on top. The guttering and pipe really do need to be done now though because otherwise doing anything internally is entirely pointless but I'm hoping that once I make her aware this will get sorted ASAP.

Just to add, I do regularly leave the windows open for ventilation (sometimes all day) and have a dehumidifier too so I'm doing everything I can to minimise the damp on my end.

I would ask the landlady for a confirmed date when the guttering will be installed by and ask for the damp area to be redecorated at the same time. Put the request in writing and send photos of the damp. Maybe she could provide a de humidifier in the short term.
By all means keep the tone polite and friendly as you are on good terms with the landlady. But... you are paying rent and so deserve somewhere to live that is maintained and habitable and does not endanger your health, that is their responsibility. Cover your back by putting requests (nicely) in writing is my advice!

This is NOT your responsibility...

We have similar issue..
We are happy to clean off with mould spray every week... Especially as we really don't want anyone inside in pandemic.

But its the landlords responsibility to pay for and organise everything to do with this. ..

Keep on at her, do it by email so you have a trail.

STOP! JUST STOP!

You are a tenant and, if you paint over that wall you could be 'hding' the extent of the issue from you LL.

No sensible LL would allow a tenant to undertake any works on their behalf, unless it were how the tenant earns a liveng. They would never be sure how weell the job was done.

Have you taken pictures of it and sent them to your LL so she can see the issue for herself?

She knows there is an issue with downpipes; she is unaware that it has started to casue water ingress.

So tell her. She won't be annoyed with you, won't blame you. She should get the external work done and then ask you to leave the inside wall to dry, keep furniture away from it, allow air cicrulation, until it is dry. Then she will either offer you a decorator, some money or some tins of paint.

Keep on at her, do it by email so you have a trail. From what OP has said she has cme here to ask if she shold undertake works on her rented prioperty before letting the LL know there is an issue! There can eb no 'keeping on' until OP actually starts a dialogue!

I would send pictures of the mold/damage to the landlord as clearly this needs sorting as a priority. The main remedial work required is outside so no issues re covid. You could then negotiate about doing the internal decoration yourself and recompense for this. Although you could clean the mold away very thoroughly and repaint now, this problem will only reoccur and very quickly. It could also disguise the severity of the problem if landlord did send someone to assess what work is needed.

Structural stuff/guttering aside (which now is really a priority but there is really nothing I can do about that on my own) Wibu to ask her if I can take a small amount of the rent money to repaint the room with specialist paint to stop the damp coming through in the meantime? I would be totally happy to pay for this myself and have already paid for other bits in the property but I'm on benefits at the moment due to corona and I have literally no spare income, especially for expensive paint.

YANBU please don't be afraid to kick up a fuss if necessary - you are paying rent and living in damp isn't acceptable. I would suggest you send an email asking what dates she has lined up to address the guttering & downpipes. Attach photos of the damp and mold that it's causing. I would hold back on the offer to paint until you get a response about the actual repair.

@CuriousaboutSamphire no offence but you seem to have made some huge leaps and assumptions about what I'm going to do or intending to do. I never said anywhere in my OP about doing the work before telling my landlady. That was never my intention. In fact, my whole question is whether or not I should get permission to use some of my rent money to pay for the paint. Which would imply I was planning on asking for the ok before doing anything. Please don't put words in my mouth. Also, you give a list of things that my landlady WILL do when you actually have no idea what, if anything, she will do. She might be totally happy to fix the guttering and pipe and just leaving the inside with a big ugly brown stain because it's cheaper. She might not, but telling me something as if it's fact when it's not is unhelpful.

She doesn't use a letting agent or have an email address. She is a very elderly lady that lives next door and manages several properties on her land so she just does stuff the easiest way as and when she has to. I haven't told her yet because I only found the damage this morning!

I will take pictures and show them to her so she can see what's happening. I won't do anything without her permission and I'm planning to wait until the water issue has been rectified before I paint over it anyway as I don't want whatever paint I put on to get damaged again, it would be silly to do it before then.

It is her responsibility to get this fixed. Her house insurance may cover it anyway so do not offer to pay a penny. Once the gutters are installed and the wall has dried out she needs to get a builder decorator in at her expense. I would expect a rent reduction if not alternative accommodation until its fixed.

My apologies, actually on reading it back it did make it sound like I was intending to do the painting right now before it gets fixed. I suppose I'm just a bit frustrated as LL has mentioned it many times that it needs doing and it's been a year now as it still hasn't been done.

I've put a lot of money and effort into trying to make this place look nice and it's a bit disheartening that I need to now re do this room too because of an issue that isn't my fault and she was already aware of 😞

It’s not your responsibility at all to pay for house upkeep. Tell her she’s getting it fixed.

And it's not a humidity /condensation issue so won't be manageable until the guttering is sorted. I would say oh no having moved the wardrobe I see that the issue you have mentioned has become urgent please can you come and look and confirm what action you will take.

This is where British renting differs to much from the rest of Europe. I have rented many a damp room in The Netherlands, one in particular used to be unusable on one side when it rained. My friends who lived in Brussels rented a house with all sorts of structural problems and loved it. The windows didn't open, except for one which was permanently wedged open, there was peeling paint on some of the high ceilings, but it was massive and convenient for the EU Commission and a number of bakeries. A German friend rented a spacious apartment in Schwabing but the radiators got so hot, I burnt myself quite badly on one when I touched it. She just lived with it, because to complain would probably have resulted in being politely asked to leave according to the law and someone else getting it. Friends who worked at one of the Max Plank institutes in Italy rented a beautiful, charming but dilapidated house in a great area which they loved despite its "issues". The general acceptance is that if you have a cheap room, you put up with these sorts of "quirks", or you move. I did in fact move to a better house once I stopped being a student and started working. The first room cost 325 euros a month, the next one 875.

In this country, it seems that increasingly there is no option other than expensive and a high standard. Even the sorts of narrow, steep staircases that you get in Dutch houses are disallowed here. Everything is expected to be perfect or alternatively, it is really really bad and flies under the radar, but there seems little acceptance of paying less for lower quality.

Anyway, in answer to the question, I don't think its a good idea to withhold rent and carry out repairs as a tenant, and its better to request of your landlord to carry out the work but if you start getting into eg legal threats and informing the authorities, don't be surprised to be told she needs the room for a family member.

Alternatively, why not just move to a more expensive, more luxurious apartment? You knew about these faults when you moved in.

The reason I'm here is exactly what you mentioned @GreenlandTheMovie - it's cheap! In fact if I had to pay any more rent there's no way I could afford it. It was advertised as having double glazing and central heating - it actually has neither of those things. It has virtually no insulation so is boiling in the summer and freezing in the winter. It is absolutely not a high quality place at all but I had no choice at the time, I didn't have a lot of money, needed a place to live urgently and had no where else to go. Now I have even less money so I am here for the time being and have to make the best of it. One of the reasons I've not been pushy about the repairs is because they are, individually, fairly minor, and I know that if she were to get upset with me and give me notice I would be absolutely screwed. I'd probably end up homeless!

It was advertised as having double glazing and central heating - it actually has neither of those things. It has virtually no insulation so is boiling in the summer and freezing in the winter. Have you checked its energy rating. It has to met a certain standard, EPC rating of E

You can check here

find-energy-certificate.digital.communities.gov.uk/

Not saying you do anything now, but if the repairs are not done or she is very slow to do them you have the option to report her to your lcoal council, maybe as you leave.

But so far all you have said is that she is aware of apotential problem, you are now awate that it is no longer potential and you have yet to let her know! Get the ball rolling... Good luck!

Not saying you do anything now, but if the repairs are not done or she is very slow to do them you have the option to report her to your lcoal council, maybe as you leave.

And that will really help the OP with a former landlord's reference, won't it?

Some people do just want to live in cheaper, shabbier places. Some people have to. Its not really that a great idea to make the rental market so rigid that only ultra expensive, 4 or 5 star rentals exist, or alternatively, back garden sheds where people pay a pittance to live under a cloak of secrecy.

And that will really help the OP with a former landlord's reference, won't it? Which is why I said maybe as you leave so it wouldn't affect her reference etc.

Cheaper and shabbier are one thing, there are still minimum legal standards that LLs have to adhere to! They aren't that onerous. Dry, warm, safe!

If you read my previous post you'll see I also deal with cheap and shabby, lots of them!

The water damage may have affected the plaster, skirting boards, floorboards so she needs to have it all properly checked before its decorated.