Mould in homes - if it's THAT bad, sort it yourself?

[Anonynamo]

NC for this.

I want to start by offering my deepest condolences to those who have suffered losses and health implications as a result of mould in their homes. No one should have to suffer in such terrible conditions in their own homes.

My question though is this - AIBU to think that if mould is that bad in a rented property then rather than just waiting for a landlord to sort, you can do things yourself to help?

OBVIOUSLY I know its a land Lords responsibility but to let it get to such a point that you are ill or God forbid someone dies, why won't you just get rid of it yourself?

People who own their own homes regularly de-mould. Why can't relatives or parents etc in rented properties do the same?

I'm not in anyway saying a landlord shouldnt be responsible - they 100% are. They're doing a shit job as we all know. I just can't shake the idea that people are digging their feet in hoping, sometimes fruitlessly that some one else will fix it, whilst their relatives or others are suffering! It baffles me.

I don't mean people who have no one to help or who cant because of already ill health. I mean those who are fully capable of putting on a pair of marigolds and a mask once a month.

Tell me you understand nothing about the lives of low income renters without telling me you understand nothing etc etc etc...

rented properties suffer more because tenants will not pay and should not pay for mould treatments that need to go into the brickwork and landlords just don’t care because it’s not affecting them where as homeowners do care because it does effect them.

People do try and keep it at bay. It’s impossible to keep it at bay when there is water coming through the wall.

You're a coward, OP.

You've name changed so you can say people who had to live like this should have 'got the marigolds out'.

I think there’s different levels of mould. Condensation mould around toilet cisterns, windows etc should be tenants responsibility to sort as it can b solved by cleaning/ adequate heat and ventilation. Mould caused by the building not being watertight is the landlords responsibility and they should resolve it quickly.

Even middle income renters. The standard of rental housing is generally appalling, a lot of the UK housing stock is either Victorian or sh*te new builds without insulation or ventilation.

I think if you're in a problem building and literally scraping by on benefits, it's not possible. The cost of heating and keeping on buying the products to remove mould is more than can be afforded. Being on benefits can be awful.

We have areas in the house that are prone to mould. We've always done what we can to keep on top of it. Recently the HA put in insulation in the flat roof of the bathroom area and for the first time the mould hasn't returned there so quite often structural issues are the problem. It was also noted on the survey that they did that I have damp patches on the upstairs chimney breast. Turns out a vent should have been added when they closed the chimney (long before I moved there) and it's likely causing damp issues in the brick work in that area.

It is the property owner who deals with the house structure and much of the time the tenant is limited in how much their efforts will help in the long term if those underlying issues aren't resolved.

As someone who has lived in a rented accommodation with a mould issue, do you not think we tried everything humanly possible to eradicate it? Or do you just think that all people who rent must be morons? Because that is how you are coming across.
lived in a house for 20years with mould issue in one room that was not piled high with junk or having laundry dried or laying about, window was opened daily (weather permitting) and it (mould) was always back within weeks, mould spores live within the fabric of the building (bricks,plaster,cement) these spores just reproduce.
We tried everything, it was both costly and time consuming, not to mention the detrimental effects of the chemicals we had to use.
Not all renters are bloody morons op.

With all these things the truth is somewhere in the middle.

There are many homes where leaking gutters, cracks in render etc make mould situations very hard to contain.

Equally a bit of mould or mildew around windows which attract condensation or on the ceiling of a bathroom is somewhat inevitable and does require keeping on top of.

There are some bad landlords and some tenants who shrug their shoulders and say 'not my problem '. The same type of people that don't think to turn off a stop cock in a leak.

If you are on either end of this then it's frustrating

My OH is a housing officer and sees all the time tenants blocking up vents and keeping windows shut. Tenants are also aware of how to cause mould to say that they need to be moved to a different property.

We found some blackening of a wall in our utility room which is sort of an outside room, used the mould remover and keep on top of it. Its what you have to do.

When people talk about ventilation are they talking about open windows? When it's cold out? Because a tennant shouldn't have to sit freezing to get ventilation and consequently pay more for heating because a LL won't fulfill their obligations.

Of course it's someone else's responsibility. The person that owns the house.
If they can't be arsed to maintain it then they shouldn't own it and let it to other people in a shit state.

Firstly why should the tenant sort it when the landlord is in breach of their contract and is being paid what now especially can be a small fortune.

Secondly, the repair could cost a substantial amount depending on the reason for the dampness/mould. Perhaps dampproofing is needed, Perhaps further ventilation is needed, Perhaps there's a leak in pipes running under ground. If a tenant sought to fix an issue like that they would be undertaking structural work to the property possibly without consent of the landlord and would therefore be in breach of their own contract and liable for eviction and/or loss of deposit.

If the tenant goes to environmental health to report the concern the landlord could still evict them if they are past their years contract and are on a rolling monthly contract.

I used to live in a flat with significant damp that I reported to the landlord via Estate agent constantly. They did nothing for 6 months at which point I moved out since I had a six month contract. I cleaned my walls down in the morning before I left for work and there was fuzz growing on them by the time I got home that evening. There were damaged and leaking pipes under my flat. When I moved out I had to bin every single bit of soft furnishing that had been in the bedroom. Towels, clothes, shoes, mattress, pillows, divan bed base etc. Everything had mold stains and it cost me a fortune that I didn't have at the time. It wouldn't have been feasible for me to undertake structural work as well. And it's a breach of contract not to pay rent even if you are suggesting that the rent is being used for repairs unless the landlord has expressly agreed to that arrangement in advance in writing. Any failure to pay rent is again putting the tenant at risk of eviction and court if the landlord decides to chase the money.

@Anonynamo Fully agree, I tell my tenants that either clean up or move out their choice.

Don't Like it move and don't rent it in the first place, better still get a job and buy your own.

I lived in a flat with a BIG mould problem once. It was impossible to keep it at bay because:

Heating - we had the most useless storage heaters. They were old, incredibly expensive to run and totally insufficient for heating the high-ceilings that we had.

Ventilation - the windows were single glazed, wooden sashes that were never maintained. They were impossible to open.

If we owned the flat, we would have put in a completely different heating system and repaired the windows. We would have cleaned the gutters and made sure that water was not coming in through the walls. We would have used the correct type of plaster and paint for the type of old building that it was.

All of the flats in the conversion were damp, I feel bad for everyone living in places like this.

Lol you’re a laugh

As others have said, mould is just the tip of the iceberg. It's not just mould that's the issue here - it's the damp conditions, the leaks, the relentless humidity, the collapsed ceilings, the relentless anxiety. (Can you tell I've been there myself?)

I advise looking at @KwajoHousing on Twitter to see some of the horrendous conditions many are living in and then have a think whether mould is always something people can fix themselves.

I have a Georgian House that needs extensive work that I simply cannot afford.

If I didn't wipe the mould off when it came, it would quickly build to the level of the picture used here. My house smells damp when you come in from the street.

However, I have a black mould spray from the pound shop which I use when I clean the bathroom and for the skirting boards at the corners and I can breathe. If I didn't do this I wouldn't be able to live in this rickety old place.

Of course landlords should fix mould problems, as should I in my own home. Will I let the mould build up to dangerous levels? No of course not, I have asthma for a start and my family shouldn't breathe in mould.

It's a Catch 22 situation if you rent though. If you keep on top of it then the landlord will do nothing. If you do nothing then the mould gets dangerous. I would choose to keep on top of it and not risk mine or my family's health personally.

I do think though, given that a child has died that this thread is in poor taste.

Our first house had a rather shoddily built extension for a downstairs bathroom. It developed a mould problem for various reasons, including bodged DIY by the previous owner.

We bought a dehumidifier, opened windows everyday and aired the house, regularly scrubbed the bathroom out with mould killer.

I had a strict routine with washing as well, to try and keep condensation down.

None of that actually fixed the problem - what it it really needed was the whole extension to be demolished and rebuilt, but we didn't have the money for that - and it only kept the visible problem under control. I dread to think what it was like under the 'drylining' (plasterboard screwed directly to tiled walls, then tiled over - we found this out not long before we moved out when we pulled some of it down as it was disintegrating, and it was awful just in that small patch.)

I am genuinely interested in both sides here. I ask becasue I have a friend who's attitude is 'not my problem'. Granted the only mould she has is relatively superficial but I just leave everytime thinking 'sort it whilst you wait?!'. I sort mine once a monthish and I am definitely uneducated about mould becasue I am not a property maintenance expert so yes, I'll admit I'm ignorant to it to a degree and welcome what people are showing me here. I've owned and rented and been a housing association tenant and dealt with mold in all of them bar 1 rented.

I'm glad there's a new law to make landlords more accountable. It's what's needed 100%. I think based on responses there are extremes and there is a middle ground issue for the majority.

Dd in rented shared student accomm. Borrowed black mould killer etc from us, finished it (do you know how expensive it is!?). Mould back, worse, ruining her clothes, belongings books.

No sweat, she can stop doing her Uni work, don the marigolds,spend her pittance of food dosh on more treatment and do it all again. Yay, OK. Until next month then.

But no matter - weather's warming up, rain's drying, we'll probably have another long hot summer and so it won't be a problem much longer until the next unfortunate student moves in, but hey, there'll be a couple of months after they've moved in before they find it.....

THAT is the scenario we faced. When we dragged our kind friendly builder to have a look he was shocked. So were we. Somany places on the outside with NO MORTAR between bricks AT ALL. Front and back. Appalling.

The LL had been getting away with it, and student after student had been suffering as a result, for years quite clearly.

LL wouldn't have done anything this time either, but dd went to Council who had the power to remove the licence, so she's beeen forced into action at last.

And dd got a months' rent refund (should have been 3 but hey).

My first house had vast quantities of black mole. It also had no heating other than two gas fires and as we discovered later it had no damp course and was basically floorboards on top of a pit of builders rubble. Didn't matter how much we scrubbed and repainted, it came back within days each time. It did make me I'll in the end.

Well aren't you just lovely.

No wonder decent people hate fucking landlords.

Oh ffs. Mould. Ill