To find this unfair? Letter from landord

[Strawberrylacesx03]

Hello,

It has not been a great thing to have on a Friday and I feel disheartened by it.

Our landlords have sent a letter basically complaining about the house we are renting.

There list of issues are as follows:

• Mold in bedrooms, claiming they did not have mold before. We have struggled with mold the whole time we have lived here. We were told by an electrician who updated the extractor fan in the bathroom and the plumber that it was because the bathroom is in the middle of the house with no window. I have never completely been able to erase the bathroom mold and we do get it in the corner of the bedrooms. The landlord has disputed this and said they 'know' it is because we do not open the windows (this is not true, they are always open).
• Scuffs on the paintwork on the stair banister - I acknowledge this happened when we first moved in as furniture was being transferred in and out of the property.
• Stains on the front room carpet - this is due to a pipe bursting around a year ago that they are fully aware of. The room was soaked and I did what I could, it has left behind some ugly black marks in areas.
• They instilled a wooden sink cabinet - this has splintered at the top. I am unsure what I can do about this? I am not sure how you would prevent water going over it, the bathroom is tiny it is directly attached to the bath/shower. The plumber also advised them that everything in the bathroom was old and needed renovating as did the sink in the kitchen but they refused and said they did not have that kind of money.
• The wrap they used in the kitchen on the cupboards and drawers was very cheap and ill done - it began peeling away within a year of us being here. They have complained that I have tried to cover it up with new wrap (it looked horrible).

I just feel like a lot of this stuff I do not want to take blame for as I feel it could bite me further down the line if I take on the acceptance?

It has just left me feeling a little out of sorts, I have two young children and am now thinking we are going to potentially have problems with the landlord.

We have not been problem tenants in any way either, rent always on time, quiet and respectful to the neighbours etc. these complaints have come rather out of nowhere.

Me too, every night, otherwise we will get mould in our bathroom and bedroom . . .

I really think you should take the advice given to speak to Shelter. The landlord is being rather underhanded. You were not obliged to let them inspect the property without an agreed appointment and they have taken the piss just going in without even asking you, and then using what they found as a means to intimidate you. I'd stop any further interaction with them and just contact Shelter about the way you are being treated.

Well I don't and I don't get mould anywhere.

I wondered if anyone was going to pick this up.
@Strawberrylacesx03 call shelter and do. Not respond further until you have spoken to them.

Landlord has no right to do an unannounced inspection

Do you mean you got new windows fitted while your landlord was away and asked them to pay for it? The experts that you quote are just tradesmen looking for work they will always say something needs replacing. Are you doing these things? Always drying outside? All windows open at least 15 minutes every day? Leave ventilation unblocked.? Shut the door of the bathroom while you’re filling the bath? Put lids on saucepans when you’re cooking.?
Low heat on? Some council will give you a damp meter and advice about how to reduce condensation which is producing your mould.

I agree. I would be very suspicious of your landlord's motives.

I'm sorry if this worries you unduly but if I were you, I would be prepared for the landlord to be issuing you with an eviction notice at the earliest possible point convenient for them within the terms of your tenancy contract. Whether their behaviour might constitute bullying or harassment according to this, I don't know. www.gov.uk/evicting-tenants Might be worth a read all the way through so you have some idea where you stand in relation to your landlord.

I am not sure as they also asked us to agree to a rental increase, and followed this point up again in a second email.

But tbh, if they do, after all this I am not sure it would be the worse thing that could happen anyway

This isn't correct, tenants are not expected to return the property 'exactly ' as they found it. Some things are expected by law to suffer reasonable wear and tear, some things are not the tenants responsibility if they weren't fit for purpose in the first place, and some issues will be a default landlord responsibility.

OP you need to take the correspondence and a copy of your lease to Shelter/a law centre/other housing specialist. It is hard to advise you here but they should be able to help. If you say where you are someone may be able to provide a specific service/organisation.

Speak to Shelter. They can't expect a property to remain in pristine condition - wear and tear is to be expected. It is a matter of judgement whether you have gone beyond expected wear and tear. Take photographs of everything.

Mould - this is a very difficult area. Keep a diary of when you open the windows and when you run the dehumidifier. Ultimately the landlord needs to address it not automatically blame you.

Wow. When I used to rent we made a point of making sure we repainted any scuffs and if we had broken anything or mould appeared we took a picture and spoke to the landlord that day to let them know. Do tenants just leave stuff like this and let it get worse to the point things need fully replacing these days? Landlords must be forking out left right and centre if people don't even need to get thenproperty back to the state they rented it in?

I think the wear and tear just needs to be sorted before you leave - clean, touch up the paint if there's any marks on walls, paint over any scuffs on skirting boards etc..

It has never been the case that tenants have to 'get the property back to the state they rented it in' - reasonable wear and tear happens when humans live in buildings. Landlords own the asset and are responsible for maintenance of the asset e.g. repainting periodically, replacing carpets.

That's the landlord's responsibility. Normal wear and tear is to be expected.

It actually doesn't matter what the landlord thinks/doesn't like about the condition of the house. As long as it is in the same condition allowing for reasonable wear and tear as when you moved in as per The Inventory and you have reported any issues (documented) then your deposit is safe.
You can't be evicted unless the breach the Tenancy agreement and even then its not easy.

How warm do you keep the property?

Everyone i know with mold has been either not heating the property consistently enough (aim for 19/20 in the day and at least 16 at night), or has dried clothes in doors or had a property rather overcrowded.

There are many properties that have mould despite heating, ventilating and not drying washing indoors, recent high profile cases have seen landlords/housing associations reminded of their responsibilities not to automatically blame tenants.

www.landlordzone.co.uk/news/lawyers-warns-landlords-not-to-blame-tenants-for-mould

Edit : this first line is replying to advice that you can live like a pig in shit if you want (meant to quote sorry)

You can (live like a pig in shit) but don't be surprised I you did if you are evicted- even if the landlord has to sell the property to do it.
(No reflection on you OP - just the advice)

We rented out our home and lived in it alternating a couple of times. We only ever got mould when it was rented out. The tenants did things like tape up any draughts (which were providing an element of trickle ventilation) and ask how to stop the extractor fan being on after turning the light off in the bathroom as they didn't want to pay for it to run.

Obviously sometimes damp is structural but it is often caused by way of living - drying clothes, cooking without ventilation, not adequately ventilating bathroom (with extractor or window) and not heating sufficiently and yes ventilating - opening windows every day.

It sounds like the landlord has lived in the property without getting mould?

But if everything that OP is to be taken at face value then the mould, the kitchen cupboards, the wooden sink counter, the carpet and cost cutting are generally the landlords responsibility. What do you suggest .......

I don't see how they can possibly have, they brought it at the end of 2020, had someone here for around 4 months, let them out of their contract early (not sure on the details there) then we moved in mid 2021.

sorry this isn't at the person I quoted, but I have to keep the temperature at a certain point for one of my children as they have a health condition(to another poster who asked)

Most of that sounds like normal wear and tear. The burst pipe is the landlord's responsibility unless you caused the leak by doing something beyond normal use.

The only thing I think could be put at your door from your lit is the mould. Often it is caused by a combination of the property and lifestyle. The climate in the uk is increasingly damp and we need to live accordingly.

We do as well 🙋‍♀️ I have young kids in the flat so really funny about mould.

I think it's the decent thing to do tbh. If you scuff up the banister or skirting board moving furniture, then you fix it - simple 😀

Just read your update. Because your indoor temperature has to be so high the difference between that and outside is huge and that will lead to mould because of condensation.

fair enough - could possibly go down to 20 but certainly no lower than that.

This.

Is your deposit protected?

the landlord is being an arse. Most of those things are due to wear and tear/bathroom not having enough ventilation/buying cheap.