Mold in rented flat - Looking for a sanity check

[ThatLoftyFawn]

Hi everyone, this is my first post so I hope I'm following the rules.

I moved here from a country where mold isn't an issue so you can imagine how foreign and scary it was to discover it in my bedroom today. I live in an old building (60s/70s?) that is always damp and has a weird smell.

I pay £1000 a month for a 1-bed flat on the top floor (which was a desperation-move since the competition for flats was so high) and it is definitely at the highest end of what I can afford. It's heated (EPC rating E) with electric heaters, and although they are efficient, the moment you switch them off the temperature drops quickly. I've spent more than 3 times on electric in November compared to October which is such a financial struggle and winter hasn't even started properly.

To prevent mold I purchased a fancy dehumidifyer which I run everyday (4-5-ish hours total?) + 20 of those moisture absorbers that I've placed around the flats around windows etc.
I always open windows when I cook, and I use the dehumidifyer when I dry clothes (it has a clothes drying setting).

Anyway, I discovered mold in my bedroom this morning. It is rising up from the floor behind one of the storage units (I left plently of space between wall and the unit to prevent this) and it broke my heart. Edit: it's the inside of an external wall.

I'm obviously reporting it to my landlord as we speak but what I wanted to ask all of you was for a bit of reassurance that this wont kill me. It's not a huge amount of mold but in my frightened brain I'm scared to even be in the bedroom now.

I'm also scared that my landlord will ask me to run the heating all day every day which I wont be able to afford (especially combined with the dehumidifyer running). The flat just doesn't hold heat!

I'm also planning on leaving the flat for a few weeks over christmas to go home to family and I'm very anxious about what I will find when I return. I bought the 20 moisture absorbers to cover this period as well as setting my electric heating to run for a couple of hours or so every morning and evening.

I'm sorry for the long post, I'm just looking for someone to tell this expat girl to stop freaking out, that this isn't the end of the world, the mold wont kill me overnight and it wont financially ruin me haha. And maybe share some tips/experiences of their own?

Of course he mold won't kill you. I suggest you wipe it off with bleach and keep your humidifier and heating schedule as you are currently doing. In the meantime, try to identify the cause of the damp causing the mold. Have you spoken to the people below you? Is damp and mold a problem throughout the building? Also, are there stains on the roof? If yes, your flat might be damp because of a leak. Also, does your bathroom have a good extractor fan that keeps running for 15 mins after you have showered?

I would set the humidity on your dehumidifier to 55% and run it constantly. It will click off if humidity goes below 55%. We had to do this to tackle mould.

I'm a landlord and it's all a bit of a nightmare with mould. It's mainly in my houses (as I'm a good landlord) due to condensation. But asking tenants to ventilate all the time is really difficult as heating is expensive and as you say it's not something you can afford. Sometimes if a gutter is clogged, it can be from water ingress but it's mainly condensation. If it's in the coldest area of a room, that's usually an indication.

Lots of ventilation and using the heating is key. Not drying clothes on radiators, lids on pans, extractor fan when showering, etc., all the usual stuff is helpful.

Do as the pp says and wipe it down.

You've done a lot to mitigate by using a dehumidifier. I never used to use one here but we've currently got black mould coming in the conservatory and the humidity in the house has been above 60% for the last month.

You will be responsible for the flat even when its empty and I would advise you talk to your letting agent about it being empty over Christmas. You would probably need to leave the heating on and maybe need to turn the water off, etc.

Leaving a house empty can cause issues with insurance, so do take care and don't invalidate your landlord's insurance.

I've been selling a flat for ages and having it empty is a nightmare, so this is a subject close to my heart!

You can buy Astonish mould and mildew spray for about £1.20 in places like Poundland which works better than just bleach. It also helps prevent regrowth to some extent.

Neat distilled white vinegar removes the mould and stops it coming back. Bleach won't.

Mould isn't instantly life-threatening & it's not going to be secretly damaging you in some way. It may trigger respiratory issues though, especially the more mould you have. So if you start to have breathing problems, wheezing or asthma, you'll need to do more to solve the issue.

On of the best things to do is to "shock air" your flat 3 times a day for about 10-20 minutes each time.

Open all the windows. Set a timer. Wear a jacket. Make sure the heating isn't on when you do this.

The air in the house will be drier as a result and dry air is cheaper to heat.

Do not use bleach!! Bleach is no good for removing mould, its does the opposite. Like a pp said use vinegar or a specific mould remover.

Yes, use mould remover.