Hello, This is going to be long but thought I should get everything out there first.
Before I start I will say the bond is protected.
I moved into a property 3 years ago. When we first moved in, we were only there for a few weeks before the first bit of damp came up. DD was just turned 1 years at the time. We told the Landlord, his wife answered and she said they don't have enough money to repair the damp.
The Health Visitor said as the damp was as bad as it is she will have to write a letter to say that the damp needs fixing ASAP. The Health Visitor did that and the Landlord got someone out to assess the damp. The Damp was all over the donstairs (living room, kitchen, dining room) upstairs in DD's bedroom, basically every wall that was external had damp.
As DD had a bad chest (we were going through DR's to find the problem) the Health Visitor said that we would need to be put into a hotel as the full house was meant to get repaired and the cost was down to the landlord. The Landlord's wife moaned at this, we told her "the Health Visitor said we can not stay in that property whilst it is being repaired as the risk to DD was to much" The landlords wife said well we can't afford the work to be done" We said "It has to or we will have to hand the notice in,"
A week later the Landlord phoned us and said they will put us in the hotel and his wife will phone Hotels and find us one. The landlord wife phoned back a few days later and laughed and said "I have gotten you in the furthest hotel away" We never argued just said "OK" as the repairs was only going to take 5days at the most.
We went to the hotel and the Damp was repaired.
A few weeks we realised that there was a big leak down the front of the house,. We phoned the Landlord and he said "I will sort it" It never got sorted even though we kept phoning him. As he was then denying we phoned we switched to emails.
A few month later, with the bad snow we had the guttering fell off which caused more damage to the leak. We emailed photos of the leak to the landlord. The landlord then finally decided to fix the problem.
A few weeks later we realised the damp was back in the bathroom and mould was growing on it. We emailed the Landlord, and he never replied. We emailed again a few days later, still no reply. We carried on emailing and he never replied.
A few weeks later we got a reply saying they were comming to inspect the house (1 year after we moved in) The landlord and his wife came to inspect the house and they said a builder was comming to price some stuff up for repairs. We said the main problem is the bathroom and the mould.
The builder came and they went into the kitchen, we later found out they were going to put new doors in the downstairs, new bath in the bathroom, tiles on the bathroom wall and a new loft hatch (the other hatch was missing) aswell as vents in the bathroom and kitchen.
We thought great the mould will go.
The builder came and did all of the work. Then he just painted over the mould.
A few weeks later the mould came through the paint.
We told the landlord. No reply by email.
In the winter we realised how cold the vents were making the house. We were putting over £100 on the meter and it was not warming the house up, We could not have a bath as the house was far too cold, we had to rely on showers and it was a quick run under, wash then out. We also relaised the mould was going in the kitchen and DD's bedroom.
The Health Visitor was still comming out (I was diagnosed with a Brain Disorder and told I was going blind) so she was coming out to support me in my illness and with DD.
The Health Visitor asked how the house is and we said the problems - mould in bathroom, that now went to the kitchen, mould in DD@s room and freezing house. The Health Visitor asked if we were on the Council list,. We said no so the health visitor said " put your names on it, I will write a letter and see if we can get out of here" We kept emailing the LAndlord but he kept ignoring every email about the repairs.
We told the Landlord we were going on the Council list and we needed a reference. He give us one.
We were placed in priority need. A few weeks later we were offered the new property. we told the Landlord and he said we need 28days notice, We said "Ok you will get that when we know the moving date off the council as the house is not ready to be let out yet"
A week later we were told the keys will be ready for the new property in 5days. We had 10 days to decorate the property then we had to move in. This was speeded up as the property was classed as unlivable.
We told the landlord what was happening. We were also telling him that the mould was getting worse.
We give the notice on the day we were told how long it will be until we got the keys.
We then moved into the new property 4weeks ago :) .
We were going down the old house every few days to make sure it was safe. The next door neighbour seen we were checking it so she said she could look after it for us. We agreed.
We then went down twice a week to check for posts. This is when we realised the mould was 3times as bad since we moved out.
Finally the day came to return the keys, we have never been so happy to return the keys.
The landlord and his wife came and inspected the property. Then we all went in the kitchen and the Landlord said "everything is fine apart from the kitchen cupboards" (one fell off, we fixed it, it fell off again, the builder that was in a few months prior tried to fix it, it fell off again, he tried again, then said "the hinges are to weak for the heavy cupboard door, and as I have not been paid or told to fix it I can't" We told the landlord that at the time, also everytime they came to inspect the property we told them, they came 3 times in just under 3 years) we told the Landlord again about the cupboard door but he said "the rest stayed on" yes the rest did stay on but that one never. The landlord then said "it was a new kitchen when we moved in and if it will cost pennys to fix we will get the full bond back as the damp is not your fault" We said "The kitchen could not have been new as when we moved in there was chop marks all over it, we had help moving in and they would also say there was chop marks"
We handed the keys then left.
We contacted the BOnd Deposit Scheme and told them we handed the keys back. We were told to reclaim the bond, We tried to reclaim the bond and the Landlord's wife rejected it 8days after. We emailed the Landlord asking what was happening and we tried to phone but their phones were off. "We then got an email straight back saying they are waiting for quotes and as they dont live in the area they are relying on contractors"
We said "Ok when do you think the quotes should be done for? and also the kitchen was not new when we moved in"
The landlord then said "yes the kitchen was not new but it was fixed and working, and would YOU rent that house the state it was in?"
Then another Email came straight afterwards saying" The carpets also stink they should have been cleaned, also YOU never told us about the damp"
We emailed back saying "we did clean the carpets, and we have proof we emailed you regarding the damp/mould, just like we told you about the rats coming into the back yard looking for food and when they never found any they went somewhere else"
The Lanlords wife then emailed saying "The rats you had in the yard was your fault as you left rubbish lieing around and its about time you used your FUCKING COMMON SENSE"
We emailed back and said "Don't swear at us and it was not our fault the rats were in the back yard, it was the sheds fault as it was a nice breeding area for them. The council Pest Control told us to get rid of the shed as we were not leaving any rubbish around for the rats, We told you the problem with the shed, and "
The Landlord's wife emailed back and said" You caused the damp/mould just to get a council house, You lived scruffy, never cleaning, you caused all of the damage, you are not getting a penny back"
We emailed back saying "We did clean, as we had a lot of help whilst we were living there, we had help from Social Services, CPN, Health visitors etc and they would have made sure the house was clean"
We got an email back saying "yes whatever, I doubt You have the illness that is making you go blind and you damaged our house so you could get a council house, Lets see how long you have that house for eh? "
We left it at that.
So what can we do as they LAndlords wife is saying we caused the damp and mould? we did everything to stop it. We never even thought about going onto the Council list it was a Health Visitor who told us too, We were going to look for another private rental.
When we handed the keys back the Landlord said everything was fine and as we are not to blame for the damp, why are they now trying to say we are?
The stress off this is making me more Ill. I am due surgery soon and my Vision is failing fast so I could do without the stress.