AIBU to expect the tenants to turn the heating up?

[LadyMaine]

I've owned my 3 bed Victorian house for 7 years. There was a little bit of damp in the downstairs bay window but nothing serious.

I moved for work at end of August this year and rented it out. Within a few weeks the tenants (3 adults & dog) started complaining of damp and mould. When I went to inspect the house was very cold.
They said they are worried about high heating bills. I do understand this but have told them they really need to turn the heating up.

The boiler is in full working order as are the extractor fans in the kitchen and bathroom.
I installed new double glazed windows throughout when I bought the house. It also has a damp course installed.

Now they are complaining that there is black mould and that one of the tenants' asthma is getting worse.
What can I do to get them to turn the heating up?

There was a little bit of damp in the downstairs bay window but nothing serious

Of that's unreasonable. I'm surprised you felt the need to ask us.

So if if you naven't got a tumble dryer or can't afford to run one, then where do you actually try to dry your clothes?

Pick one room that you can avoid going in and out of. Essentially it becomes laundry drying room. You don’t want to be going in and out because that will let the moisture into the rest of the house. Open the window in that room. Or, if you can afford it, use a dehumidifier (with or without heating) without opening the window, but when there is no laundry drying, ventilate by opening the window now and again.

Of course

I agree that double glazing can create this issue.

I assume you don't have a minimum heat clause in the contract - these stipulate that a tenant must keep a house above a specified minimum? I hadn't heard of these until recently but I was doing some research and it seems quite a few people have these contracts.
I am renting a Victorian property which has a condensation, damp and mould issue and has had since I moved in. I have to heat the house so have the heating on in the morning for a bit and evening for a bit. I have bought a huge dehumidifier which helps. I open some of the windows every day but it hasn't helped. Even with one person sleeping in one room with the door shut, every morning every window pane is soaking.
In reality the house needs a new damp proof course and at least one window replacing. I keep on top of the mould which is in the same spot in the loo and bathroom (one on top of the other) and near the rotten window.
I had my own tenants some years ago who never used heating dried their laundry every where including off lampshades - when I finally got possession back one room had floor to ceiling mould. I removed it, aired the house and it didn't return.

But this is the reality for lots of homes, I am owner occupier and still we have mould problem.

We get mould in our 3 bed semi. I have raised it with the ll but I understand we have to do our bit so I put the heating on a couple of hours and got a good dehumidifier

People always remark upon the fact that damp is more common in rented homes and blame landlords.

Condensation from ordinary living (breathing, showers, cooking & drying clothes) is the main cause of moisturise in homes.

The reason it more commonly gives rise to damp/mould in rented homes is:

• tenants tend to be poorer than owners and can't afford to heat as much
• there's a higher rate of overcrowding in rental properties for the same reason. More people = more moisture
• more flats are rented than owned. Lack of outside space leads to people drying washing inside

A minority of landlords provide inadequate heating systems/poor ventilation, but in most cases its because the tenants can't afford to look after the properly in a manner suited to british climate.

I've lived in old properties and in my experience it's impossible to keep damp under control without proper heating. Without heating there's sod all that can really be done other than keep wiping it off as it'll just come back. Many Victorian houses are the same - they just weren't built with damp being a consideration. You can get those disposable crystal dehumidifiers or buy them a plug in dehumidifier. But really unless you actively address it regularly - open windows, keep heating on, wipe the walls at first sign of any damp then it'll only ever get worse. Even when it's your own house it's hard enough, if your tenants don't understand that they have to actively participate in the measures to prevent it appearing then i can't see it ending well. I don't know how anyone magically expects you to 'fix it' without heating. It's not like a broken applicances that can just be mended!

Personally I'd look at selling up or renegotiating rent to include heating.

Pick one room that you can avoid going in and out of. Essentially it becomes laundry drying room.

People who can't afford heating are unlikely to have a spare room they aren't using, another part of the problem.

Imho the best approach is to use the bathroom. If you can't afford heating don't rent a house with a windowless bathroom. Bathrooms are usually tiled so moisture is easier to wipe away, regularly have mould resistant paint designed to cope with moisture, and need to be aired daily to get rid of shower steam.

We live in an older property. Not some hovel -a nice detached house in Surrey that cost 7 figures. The issue with many period properties is that they don't have cavity walls so moist air condenses on the cold walls. If we don't heat and air ours there is mould. We have to keep on top of it as I am allergic to the mould spores - they make me wheeze. We have moisture monitors and dehumidifiers. And have to heat the house adequately.

@Crunchyb “Pick one room that you can avoid going in and out of. Essentially it becomes laundry drying room.”

I mean, it’s not bad advice. I’m just imagining that those who can’t use the East Wing for this purpose, would turn to the utility, spare bedroom, home office, separate dining room… all the kind of places that people who can’t afford to heat, and rent, tend to have.

You could let out a house that doesn't have fucking mould in it OP.

Your property, your responsibility. Hoping there's no-one in the house with lung conditions.

And incidentally we have no extractor in the bathroom or kitchen and the kitchen doesn't even lead out into an open window

Completely agree. Add in that most properties built before the 80s were built with solid fuel fires in mind too.

They were designed with the idea that the walls themselves would warm when the fire was lit. These older properties just can't handle the modern lack of ventilation (double glazing) and heating.

Throw in that renters are being flattened with extortionate rents, it's hardly surprising this is an increasing problem.

There has been a lot of rubbish written in the media re heating bills which suggests stopping up all 'draughts' without also saying you MUST maintain ventilation. This is the UK and not the UAE, the climate is damp, and many houses are also old and not insulated to modern standards; they were designed to have a lot of throughput of air- chimneys, the good old British Spartan 'open the windows a lot' thing, etc.. So they need to be kept ventilated. I said earlier this year on here that we'd be seeing more and more about mould this winter as a result of misinformation and ignorance about how older properties work. And here we are.
This house had problems with damp when we moved here- six months after a regime of proper ventilation, and unblocking vents, and the house was so dry I had to put drops in my eyes and the previously soft peeling wallpaper in places got so dry it became a nightmare to strip. And it felt a lot warmer; I will also point out re heating that if a house is ill-ventilated and gets damp, it will feel a LOT colder at the same temperature than a dry house. So the more you stuff up the holes and vents, the damper it gets, the colder it feels, the more it gets heated (if peopel can afford it), and the damper it gets because warmer air holds more moisture.
Add onto it drying clothes indoors without a dehumidifier and it's a classic recipe for rampant mould.
I do feel sorry for landlords on this one, and I'm not a natural fan of landlords in general.

This is a landlord renting out their property. Not quite the same thing. @MossGrowsFat

YABU - if they can't afford to put the heating on, you're charging too much rent - sorry!

Get ready for the Tenants reporting you to Environmental Health/Council and witholding the rent until they are satisfield you have sorted the problem.
Good Luck, you are going to need it.

My landlord is still telling me to 'open the windows' dispite the fact:

The shower pipe is leaking into the floor (confirmed by a plumber who instantly phoned him to say its a serious issue, nothing been done)

The toilet cysten leaks (confirmed by tradesman who only got half paid so never came back to finish)

Rising damp (not 'proven' but all the signs, they haven't even come to look at it)

Leaking roof (in rain it just leaks sometimes, have video of it happening)

So no amount of opening windows will fix it no matter how much they keep insisting its our responsability and Im not sitting freezing to death with the window open when they wont fix the problems causing the damp in the first place.

We have no mold though, just lots of damp.

OP says there’s a mould issue that she knew about, but rented it out anyway.

Tenants first experience mould within weeks of moving in, in August!!!

Property is clearly in disrepair and is fuck all to do with heating. I bet Environmental Health would have a field day

I have never lived in a house that hasn’t had a small spot (at least) that wasn’t prone to a bit of mould. Even when heated and ventilated. I always believed it was the coldest spot in the house?! People being horrible about a little bit of mould are correct in that you should have cleaned it and painted it with an anti mould paint but beyond that it needs to be looked after with heating and ventilating or it will come back and spread, like what’s happening now.

Or they're renting outside of their budget. You've made a quick assumption there surely

Offer to pay for it.

If you were living there alone 3 adults and dog will be making significantly more condensation than you were.

It's also the responsibility of the tenant to control any damp issues. Its quite simple to do.

In Germany I'm given to understand their Leasehold Agreements require tenants to ventilate the property daily.

Our rules for tenants aren't stringent enough. We get damp washing hanging in full view in windows, grass uncut, rubbish in gardens. Councils need to legislate.