Is your DD/DS currently looking for student accom in Brighton? A warning...

[Acacia123]

DD is in private rented house in Brighton (1st year), and her house is now back on the market for september rental - but it is absolutely riddled with black mould and the agent wont do anything.

If your child is looking for a house in Brighton at the moment, message me for the address of this house so you can avoid it. The mould will still be there in september but will be hidden / painted over and wont reveal itself until the winter and you wont be able to get any help from the agent.

Hope this post helps someone avoid the situation we are now in.

Mould is not uncommon in student rentals. In fact it would be easier to list the houses without it! Unhelpful landlords the norm too. All “character building”

On a serious note best to teach our kids how to minimise moist conditions within their houses: ventilation, ventilation, ventilation (and dehumidifiers are useful too, cheap as chips on Amazon)

Just because it is common doesn't make it right.

Mould can be a serious health hazard and huge areas of their walls are black with it (many meters).

This house is bring in £25k a year for the landlord.

It's not possible for them to have the windows open in the depths of winter in a seaside town blasted by the wind.

I don’t disagree with you. But I’m afraid it is an occupational hazard in cheap (a relative term!) rentals which may not be maintained to a high standard lived in by several people all, for example, hanging washing indoors to dry, showering several times a day etc.

Dehumidifiers, keeping windows open and frequent application of bleach spray and wiping the mould before it gets too out of hand are all key.

Lots of information on citizens advice website about landlord obligations and what tenants can do to try to get the landlord to do repairs etc.

I should add I’m a veteran now of 4 different student houses between my 2 children, and also a landlord!

The rent is £2300 per month and has just been increased to £2600 from September - someone is making a lot of money out of this property.

This is actually my 5th rental between 2 kids at uni, and vastly the most expensive.

Constant bleaching is what DD is doing, but even that in itself is bad for.health.

New items of wooden furniture (wardrobe) brand new in Sept is now rotten and collapsed.

It is really bad.

Sounds horrible - have they sorted something for next year?

Yes, they have signed on a more modern property which looks lovely (although this one was lovely at the start of the tenancy!) so fingers crossed x

Why is she bleaching it? Bleach doesn’t kill black mould it just removes the colour of it and leaves the spores behind. 80/20 vinegar and water solution will actually kill the mould but if they’re not airing the house and keeping it warm it will just keep coming back.

Just to add - they signed on this original house in a big rush last september - all 5 girls accepted places through clearing only to find no halls available. In the space of a week they had to find each other (strangers on Facebook) and find a house, so it was all a bit difficult.

Good news is that although the house failed to deliver, all the girls get on really well!

(although this one was lovely at the start of the tenancy!)

Hmmm, in that case the students haven't been looking after the property properly if it is now riddled with black mould.

The lack of university accommodation was the one thing that put one of my kids off Brighton. How lucky kindred spirits found each other!

I'm afraid that a LOT of houses in Brighton suffer with damp and mould. Our house does too and we are slaves to emptying the dehumidifiers.

Thanks for the vinegar tip, I will tell her to get a spray bottle and some vinegar.

Of course they keep it warm.

It's not really practical.to suggest they keep their windows open in Nov/Dec/Jan.

It looked lovely when they took the tenancy as it was freshly painted.

@Undies1990 please do let me know in what way they have not looked after it. They keep it warm and use the bathroom extractor fans, have furniture pulled away from the walls and clean it off as best they can.

A dehumidifier is a good investment, and keeping bathroom window open after every shower. What about keeping a window open a tiny bit in all the bedrooms especially at night and kitchen when cooking. We do this all through the winter in UK, otherwise the windows would be running with condensation. Heat and ventilation, dehumidifier.

I have bedroom windows open most of the year. A bit. It’s so difficult when there no university accommodation for insurance or clearing DC. Sadly student houses are often far from great but change for next year?

With two universities with students looking for accommodation, September was no doubt late. What have they done for 21/22? Looking now?

@PresentingPercy - Brighton was not planned, place accepted through clearing and house hunt commenced straight away! It was all a huge rush.

Yes, they are now stored for a house for this September, they started looking in January. More modern house so fingers crossed!

Will investigate a dehumidifier.

Sorry 'signed' not 'stored'...!

I’ve lived in rental properties all my life, and I’m mid-40s now. The vast majority have damp issues which the land lord won’t spend out to fix properly. It’s a hazard of renting.

Sounds like my DS student house last year in Brighton. When we picked him up, the damp and mould was vile. They aired and heated the house too. The landlord could not have been less bothered about fixing it when they contacted him about it while they were there. Still wanted to make a deduction from their deposits when they moved out though. Luckily I had taken photos when they moved in. This house was an astronomical £3k a month too!

Yes I know it wasn’t planned but that’s part of the problem. There’s nothing decent left. Let’s hope newer house is better.

Certainly having a crap house makes everyone more determined to get a better one.