To think mould issues are one of the biggest triggers for retaliatory evictions?

[TheNavyAnt]

I keep seeing situations where tenants report damp or mould and suddenly the landlord/agent becomes hostile - inspections ramp up, nitpicking begins or a Section 21 magically appears soon after.

AIBU to think mould is one of the most common things that leads to landlords trying to push tenants out, simply because fixing it costs money?

We got some mold by drying washing in our house, in an unheated room, didnt notice for a while and then realise we needed to clean if off, arrnage some heating out there and got a dehumidifer and now dont suffer with it

I am scrubbing mould daily. My childrens health is suffering the walls and ceilings are black, as soon as you clean it it comes back. The walls are all wet with damp. How am i supposed to magic up a damp proof course and fix the route of the mould?!

Also cant risk making an issue or will lose our house.

Not at all. A couple of inches is plenty to keep a room ventilated so no need for you to rant about that.

Yeah, but I've known two landlords have zero problems with mould in their houses until tenants caused issues by never opening windows and drying washing on radiators etc.

One of them lived in their house for years before they rented it out, and they just never had a mould problem.

Unfortunately, some tenants won't accept advice as to how to reduce or eliminate the problem and A) they can cause damage to the property and B) it's worrying having them in there, given litigiousness these days.

So I do think you are right OP, but not because landlords are evil or anything. I think people just don't want problems.

That’s awful. It does sound that you are trying to rectify the situation so no one is directing criticism at you. Are you looking for a new rental (not easy to find, I realise) if your children’s health is suffering?

We have mould and damp in our SH. We clean it daily, which the HA are annoyed about and keep telling us to stop doing, even though it is taking them months to resolve.

We have a dehumidifier upstairs that is on all day long when it rains, and for an hour after showers.

We have a dehumidifier downstairs that is on when we are cooking or when the heatpump tumble dryer is on. We dry very few things on the heated airer, but when we do, the dehumidifier is on.

The trickle vents are open on all windows. My bedroom window is open 24/7, at least on the latch if not wider, because I am asthmatic and cannot breathe on a night with the window closed. The bathroom and kitchen windows are always on the latch.

The house is freezing cold, so we have the heating on for up to 12 hours a day because the second we turn it off, all the heat evaporates.

It's good to know it is definitely my fault, though. Please suggest what else I can do to prevent it.

No one would say that it is your fault in those circumstances.

Ours is caused by various issues, including problems with the roof, and every time I suggest paying for things to be fixed myself, the HA gets huffy with me and starts talking about needing things to be properly insured and under warranty, yet they won't do anything about it other than sending people around to gaze at it from time to time.

These threads are always going to bring out people using their situation to apply to everything else. There are always extreme examples such as above and posted earlier

Bt the reality is, most mould issues are lifestyle caused and there has become a narrative that you darent say that. I wonder why its different for tenants than for home owners, what do you think home owners do in these situations?

Get it properly fixed, in a timely manner, by someone sufficiently qualified as opposed to just arranging for someone to come and stare at it for a few minutes once a week?

We lived in a house for 30 years with no mould. Tenants did too for years . Then one tenant clearly had showers / dried laundry without ever opening a window and house ended up with really bad mould everywhere which we can to then get rid of & fully redecorate

Probably fix the roof, rather than cutting out a square of tarp and cementing it to the remaining tiles.

Like i said earlier home owners have not been FORCED to have it done by a landlord/HA We dont have homes unsuited to lifestyle We have homes unsuited to LIFE

Im not talking about where there is a structural problem, I made that clear. Im talking about changing how you live to avoid it, like we did.

A lot of the time mould can be sourced to lack of ventilation and heating. This is predominantly due to the tenants not wanting to pay for the heating, and drying clothes without opening windows.

My DM dried clothes indoors and didnt open the windows because she didnt want the net curtains getting dirty. Can you please explain why there was no mould

Obviously, that can cause mould in some cases without necessarily causing it in all situations. That’s just common sense 🤷‍♀️

Again using outlier situations is irrelevant. She might not have had airtight doors and windows, who knows, she might have had a great spin on her washing machine, she might not have dried many clothes, who knows.

The reality is that people can’t afford the things that keep mould out. Open windows = cold house more heating
dehumidifier on 247 = more electricity
a dryer = more electricity

renters are in cold and damp
homes because rent is often up to half their salary. They cannot afford utilities outside of essential usage.

a lot of these are the consequences of old buildings and poverty

Probably because the windows were not new. New windows are the worst things ever as they let no air in or out at all!

This sounds daft but how are people supposed to dry clothes in winter? I know in the US they use dryers but here they seem to take forever to dry or shrink everything.

We havent got a dryer, we use an inside washing line that we put up across a room but its retractable and a dehumidifier. Its very very effective and we double spin everything so theres less water when it comes out

Airer with dehumidifier in the same room. Clothes spread evenly on rack. Do not put them on radiators.

Or airer with window cranked open 24/7

Or tumble dry

I winder if there is serious mold issues, the tennants have to move out to fix it properly? Like a new roof. You can't do major repairs in winter without seriously disruption. Like needing to plaster?

@JenniferBooth.
If your property has a mould issue the HA needs to sort it under Awaabs Law. Private lets dont have this luxury as it doesn't effect them.