Aunt won't refund money

[Casals07]

Aunt has a home abroad that myself, DH and kids go to every year. We go in August as it's too hot for Aunt to go. I pay to stay there and always take care of the place and top everything up before I leave. The house is now 20 years old and is definitely showing signs of wear and tear. Nothing has been replaced. This year I arrived to find black mould in the bedrooms, job had been started but won't be finished until November. My Aunt never informed me of this. My DD has now got pneumonia and we have had to move out at a considerable expense. My Aunt has refused to return any of my text messages. My DH rang her and asked for the money back we paid as the house is not habitable. She has point blank refused.

It can but you need to be immune suppressed ie on chemo or something similar or have very long term exposure, a healthy person though no, can’t catch it from. Few days, it’s not possible.

Dear god, these strange posts. Why?

Have you warned the other family members of the state of the house?

It is not a virus. It's inflammation of the lungs, usually caused by infection. The infection can be bacterial, viral or fungal.

I don’t think it’s strange. A healthy person cannot catch pneumonia from black mould in a short period, it’s impossible. As such the child will be immune suppressed and very vulnerable Ie on chemo or other immune suppressant medication, and on that scenarios no family member should have her staying there,

Loads of slum landlords on MN, it seems!

I’m surprised there are posters telling Op to be grateful and sick it up? She’s paying to stay there! It’s really bad damp and the aunt knew about it.

refunding for the unused nights is a PERFECTLY reasonable request . I wouldn’t speak to this woman for a long time, she definitely doesn’t treat Op like family

I can't believe she was charging you rent in the first place. None of my family would, they'd be so happy to save me money and teat me to a free accommodation. They'd only ask we leave it just the way we found it.
Sounds like your aunt is a bit of a scrooge, always looking to make money even off relatives. But the worst bit is not giving a hoot about your daughter's health and not willing to refund of course. Most people would be mortified, extremely apologetic and bend over backwards to rectify this as much as possible.

I think you'll have to write the money off, and write off the aunt as well while you're at it!

did you pay for the holiday rental by bank transfer? did you pay each year by bank transfer?

keep all the paper work from the hospital

visit citizen advise when you return to uk

I agree the way the op has presented it it is perfectly reasonable. But people always write things to look perfectly reasonable . Otherwise why bother.

the key things are

the child is sadly must be suffering from a signficant health condition. It is not humanly possible to contract pneumonia in such a short period of time otherwise, as such, does the aunt know this. And why didn’t the op leave immediately if her child is so compromised.

secondly is op Really paying as much as she’s saying.which is pretty much market rates, or is it just a fee for maintainenace and utilities.

why did the op stay when her child developed pneumonia so quickly. Not being able to drive and no local accommodation isn’t an excuse, nor is why should we it’s out summer holidays.

if you’d an immune suppressed child would you stay?

Putting everything other posters have raised to one side, the bottom line is she should have told you beforehand- end of.

What a shame, your poor dd

She should've told you. Obviously. But you're treating this arrangement like she's an air bnb owner and you're a client. I assume you have been paying less than market rent all these years?

It was never going to end well.

Next time stay somewhere else and chalk this up to bitter experience.

Seems like you are looking to victim blame here.

Some horrible responses here

Small claims court, OP. You have a contract (messages about the rental, plus payment) and evidence of its poor condition (more messages, photos, your dd's hospital stay)

Best of luck.

Sigh. Yes that’s my plan.

If you are done with your aunt and don't care about the relationship with her, then I would take evidence photographs, evidence of your payment, and sue her for a refund through the small claims court (which I think is now online as money claim something-or-other).

@Casals07
She might be flouting the laws of the country.
She might need a licence to rent out the property, which could involve H&S checks, gas & electricity safety checks etc.
Might even be evading tax by not declaring all/some rental income

Check this, & threaten to denounce her if she won't refund your money.

What a dreadful person letting you stay there knowing the state it’s in and charging you for the privilege!
Make sure the rest of the family know.

I know people are suggesting sueing/ reporting etc etc and you say she’s rich but chances are she’s all talk and your money was going to help with the repairs. Horrible she didn’t warn you but sounds like she’s knee deep in it so (personally) I wouldn’t have relatives at her or go legal in any way

What is woke about people on here supporting the right of slumlords to rent out black mould infested uninhabitable properties and refusing to refund the money? It’s the opposite of lefty or woke.

I do think your aunt should return at least some of your money.

But unless you want to go down the legal route, then I would take the loss, go LC with her and not stay there again.

Or perhaps she has asthma? Hardly unusual in a child. Awaab Ishak didn’t have any pre-existing conditions and he still died.

What a leap. Not sure how you arrived at your conclusion or why you feel the need to protect the aunt.

Why not sue the aunt even if she is skint (absolutely no evidence of that) especially since it is so easy for the OP to put in a small claims court.

If the aunt has no money, she can at least at least engage with the OP. That would be a far better way to stave off a law suit.