Landlord ignoring me

[NotAllowed]

I’m about to lose it with my landlord and need a sounding board to see if my anger is justified.

I moved into this property since June. The garage, a major selling point, has an old roof which is leaking badly. I did not know this when I viewed and took on the property as it was early summer. It’s been a very wet year as we all know and my belongings in the garage are soaked, so much so that I’ve had to cover everything with tarp. I reported this as soon as I noticed it back in July. A roofer has been out to try and fix the issue on two occasions, which has only made things worse. It needs a new roof. There’s been no progress and it’s only getting worse, despite being reported 6 months ago. I call and text and largely get ignored.

The chimney breast is also leaking, there is a stream of water now pouring down one of the bedroom walls inside. There’s mould on all the windows and in the bathroom, and bad condensations for which I have requested a dehumidifier and been ignored. I open the windows and ventilate the house as much as possible given it’s winter and wet outside.

I’ve tried to call and text with other questions and concerns, as is understandable when moving into a new property. Lots of empty promises upon moving in such as replacing broken fencing panels which at this point I’m not even bothered about. I am constantly ignored. Calls go unreturned. Texts don’t get replied to. He replies on occasion. If he does pick up the phone there’s no acknowledgement of that fact I’m ignored, I find it weird and awkward. I’m 9 months pregnant and due any moment. I’m tired and irritable. The room that the water is now pouring in through is my baby’s nursery. I know that when I do eventually get through to him, I’m going to explode. Would an explosion be justified? I’m so angry. I’ve never experienced this level of rudeness and ignorance with a landlord.

Hi Op, if you don’t want to buy an electric dehumidifier then I would get some of these at least for the meantime

https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/unibond-aero-360-pure-moisture-absorber-dehumidifier?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=17688771596&cq_term=&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&cq_plt=gp&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhc-sBhCEARIsAOVwHuSVlFC3J4c5YAfmo73IQSSqD3xlxSJ85cb447h4Up7b0xmDoRFEw1MaAhpmEALw_wcB

I’ve used them in a damp property several times and they really help but much cheaper than buying and running an electric dehumidifier.

Withhold the rent. He’ll soon be in touch!

if your drying clothes indoors you will be cause the mould growth in those rooms, you counter act this with using a dehumidifier, that’s your responsibility as a tenant as your causing the mould build up.

Also your windows won’t have mould on them if you cleaned them daily/weekly as again you will be contributing to the growth.

The water ingress and the roofing issues I’d suggest you text him saying you want to raise a formal complaint and your want these issues to be resolved within 1 month, if not resolved you have no alternative to go to environmental health/ombudsaman

The advice you were given up thread that the council will probably not be able to do much because you're a private tenant is not correct.

You need to contact Environmental Health at your local council. They will serve notice on the landlord that he must conduct relevant repairs in a given timeframe otherwise the council will take action. This can sometimes include the council doing the work themselves then charging him for it. But be aware, and this is a very big BUT, some landlords will not take kindly to council interference and may view you as a problem tenant and seek to end your tenancy. Revenge evictions can still happen by stealth if he chooses not to renew your contract.

Also regarding damp caused by drying clothes Indoors, just because it didn't cause mould in your last property doesn't mean this one will be the same. Just leaving a window open wont necessarily prevent it. It's about effective exchange of airflow. Not all properties have the same effectiveness of airflow, ie some have airbricks and extractor fans, some don't. Also the position and size of the windows and direction the property faces can make a difference.

Obviously that damp needs to go somewhere. The fact it didn't happen at your last property doesn't mean it won't happen at this one. If this property is not as effective with airflow as the last then get a dehumidifier. Also it helps to understand humidity itself. Warm air holds more moisture than cold air before it condenses so heating rooms effectively can also cut down on mould. Cold rooms or cold areas are more likely to attract it.

I’m a landlord and this is unacceptable. Message/email/write to advise him you’ll be withholding rent until he acknowledges your issues and puts a plan in place - he’ll definitely get in touch then. Also, report to council.

Yeah, with an eviction notice.

Your options are limited. You can not pay rent or contact the council to share your concerns but either would likely result in the landlord finding a new tenant. You could also let the landlord know you feel you’ve got no choice to contact environmental health as you’ve tried to contact him with no response. That might prompt him to attempt to fix the problem but again he could decide to evict you. I appreciate the timing is terrible but perhaps it’s time to look for another property to rent.

Have you asked for/ threatened a rent reduction? My landlord was dragging his feet with repairs to the flat, as soon as I messaged and said I was very unhappy and felt that the rent amount was unfair considering the issues in the property and that rent would need to be reduced the landlord pulled his finger out and sorted the issues. I know legally you can’t just stop paying rent in full but the threat of it worked with my landlord, money seems to be the only language he understands unfortunately.

You should report this to the housing department in your local council as is responsible for monitoring and enforcing the law of landlord and tenant and dealing with bad landlords who are not carrying out their responsibilities. This includes private tenancies and private landlords.

Councils need to know about standards within their area and when this sort of negligence or exploitation of vulnerable tenants is happening. Some have schemes to raise standards and register landlords or to keep records of complaints. For all you know, they may already have information or complaints about this landlord from previous tenants.

Stop paying, Bet he will soon be in touch

The structural damage is the LLs problem to deal with, but if you are drying laundry indoors then you NEED to buy a dehumidifier or a tumble dryer. It's nice your previous property wasn't damp but this one clearly is so you need to take steps to prevent mould.

You need to write to your LL giving them a date by which you expect a solution. I'd make it clear that if nothing is done by that date, you will be contacting environmental health to inspect the property.

Personally I'd just move. Nothing worse than a damp house in a damp country!

I cannot believe the stupidity of advising you to withhold rent.............🙄

This.

Different build types can have different problems. I lived in a 20's house that was a solid build (no cavity). It was harder to keep warm which meant that drying clothes indoors could be a problem.

The walls are colder so condensation forms. Where this forms, mould can grow. If you have to dry indoors keep to one room and leave a window open and door closed while drying. A de-humidifyer will help.

If you're getting condensation on the windows in the morning wipe it dry then open the window a crack for half an hour.

The chimney breast problem might be a totally different thing. If it hasn't formed mould it might be something known as effervescence from the salts that have formed in the walls after a fire has been used.

We also had that in the old house. It looked wet, like a river of water running down but didn't actually feel water wet. In the summer it would dry and look almost fluffy.

We also had damp experts in and were told that any problems apart from the effervescence could be stopped with the lifestyle changes I've mentioned above. I was also told to open a window even with a condenser dryer or heated airer. Definitely no drying on radiators and to always use extractor fans when cooking or showering and open windows to air the room out afterwards if it was too cold to do so after showering.

The chimney salts thing was a case of wiping with kitchen roll every few days or paint with a primer meant for the problem. It wasn't harmful, though, so up to us if we just wanted to live with it.

Awful advice. Don’t do that!

It depends on whether it's caused by structural damp or lifestyle.

I had a friend who completely covered her new house with black mould in 2 months because she used a vented dryer without a vent so all the warm damp air just circulated straight into the house.

Structural damp needs to be fixed by a builder, lifestyle damp by measures such as wiping condensation from windows every day, opening them to allow airflow, not drying indoors or cooking and showering without allowing damp air to escape.

If you place something like a folded blanket or pile clothes against a wall you'll see mould form behind it in a few weeks in a house with no airflow, especially if the house is not a cavity wall construction.

You have no choice. You can either move or stay. You cannot force him to repair and if you report him chances are they will deem it inhabitable and you will still have to move.

The roof leak is definitely on the landlord, we have this issue in all our chimneys and it's a nightmare to fix, we have someone out every year but still get leaks so I think you need to consider escalating. However the condensation is on you, I would get a good dehumidifier, possibly 2 if you dry clothes indoors. We manage with one but I do open all windows daily to manage the humidity and air the house.

Do NOT withhold rent.

Thank you everyone. I’ll heed the advice and invest in a dehumidifier. I’ll get onto the council if the problems aren’t rectified by the end of the month. Sadly moving house isn’t an option for at least 6 months due to my circumstances.

Contact your local Environmental health officer about the structural issues. They are completely unacceptable. In the mean time buy yourself a dehumidifier to use when you are drying your clothes. You will then be seen not to be making the problem worse yourself. The upside is that your clothes will dry much more quickly and not have that awful stale smell to them. This will be even more important when you will have all the baby laundry to do

Can you find out if he has registered your deposit? If not you can sue him and you would win. Ask him to provide proof of this. It will give you leverage.

Some landlords are such pigs.

Isn't it amazing that drying clothes only seems to cause mould issues in rented properties?

Almost as if there's a correlation between landlords refusing to properly maintain and invest in their assets and property issues developing 👀

I'm in a rented house, dry multiple loads of washing every day and I've NEVER had mold ever in the 10 years I've been here.

I'm also lucky to have a decent landlord who fixes things immediately. Who sent me the evidence that he had placed my deposit as soon as I moved in.

A decent landlord would not be ignoring you.

Yes this is a good idea.

Move before the baby is born. I get that you don't want to. Trust me though the stress you will go though having a tiny baby who constantly has respiratory issues gave you no stress at all!