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Damp/mould in rented house.

15 replies

wibblewobblex · 16/12/2020 17:05

Hi
Just wanting some advice.

I am private renting and moved in 1 month ago. Have a 6m agreements. Upon first entering house seemed fine. Week or so after, mould has come onto walls of bedrooms esp my little girl (9). She is sleeping in my room with baby (1). There is damp here also. Informed landlord straight away (via text). Although they seem to be co-operating nothing has been done. roofers have come given quotes but no work has been carried out. Damp is very bad and has damages some of out stuff. What are my rights? Can i ask for my rent to be lowered? etc Any help anyone.

OP posts:
wibblewobblex · 16/12/2020 17:59

Anyone ??

OP posts:
RedHelenB · 16/12/2020 21:11

I'm not sure but I would definitely contact Shelter and maybe your local authority housing section, who would tell you your rights or could pressure your landlord into dealing with the issues.

MillieVanilla · 16/12/2020 21:14

Environmental health at the council
They will be and take a look or may ask for photos to see how bad due to covid. If they consider it a hazard landlord will have 30 days before they will fine him.
Do you really want to get into that though after a month?
Keep all contact via text or email so you have written evidence in case, mention your concerns and the damage done to your items and ask for an urgent update

Have you tried anti mould spray and opening windows? I have to do that every year as my house is old.

sconenotscon · 16/12/2020 21:28

Hi OP

I had similar in a rented house and we had damp in the majority of our rooms. We went to our letting agency numerous times and they were VERY slow to act, I won't bore you with the details but we spoke to Shelter as a pp suggested and they advised us to go to our local authority's environmental health department. We told them what the problem was and had a visit from them 2 days later. They did a thorough check of the whole house and submitted a report to the letting agency and landlord ordering them to carry out the works to fix the issue ASAP. Took a couple of weeks but we finally had a damp proof course (I think that's what it's called anyway - was a long time ago) which fixed the issue.

If your landlord is being no help I would definitely speak to Shelter and then, if needed, your local council

Good luck OP it's a nightmare isn't it! In the meantime a decent humidifier and some mould spray might help a little?

sconenotscon · 16/12/2020 21:29

I mean DEhumidifier not humidifier. A humidifier won't help

Lineofconcepcion · 16/12/2020 22:15

Mould is usually caused through lifestyle, for example not ventilating rooms, drying washing indoors, not using a cooker vent. It usually takes longer than a week to become established.

Were the rooms newly painted? And is the mould in particular places or is it random, for example are the walls affected outside walls?

dontdisturbmenow · 17/12/2020 10:26

This is a very grey area because 9 times out of 10, the cause is tenant's lifestyle.

My tenants reported a serious problem in my rented property especially their you best daughter room. I was surprised as this has had never been an issue before. They insisted it was to do with problems with the roof and wall.

I went for a visit and the issue became clear. The bedroom, which is small was overpowered by furniture against every wall. There was clothes drying on the radiator that was full on and the window was closed. The problem was obvious.

There was also mould in the kitchen and I found out the dryer was a condenser one despite a whole in the wall to allow for a normal one.

I explained this but they wouldn't have it and threatened the environmental agency. They came and agreed with me. They left shortly after that.

After cleaning the whole house, new tenants moved in and funnily, not one bit of mould since they've moved in 4 years ago.

You need to make all efforts to avoid it. Don't overcrowded the rooms, leave some air between walks and furniture. Open windows for a few minutes every day. Yes it's cold, that's life.

Don't use a condenser eyer I less you have to, if so open windows when you use it. Get a humidifier.

If all those things fail (and record everything), then indeed,report to the environment agency.

Saying all that, if they've already had a roofer coming and quotes, they are probably reviewing the validity of the quotes and whether it is really the cause of the mould.

Phyzzy · 17/12/2020 16:04

My DS narrowly avoided renting a house with mould.
He had viewed it and been told it would be renovated. When the work was finished I went with him to look. They had just painted over the mould. They forgot about inside the cupboards which is why we knew.

Mould and damp are often problems in old buildings, while I agree that lack of ventilation can be a problem the biggest cause is insufficient heating.

dontdisturbmenow · 18/12/2020 08:21

Mould and damp are often problems in old buildings, while I agree that lack of ventilation can be a problem the biggest cause is insufficient heating
And that's the problem. People want to reduce the heat due to costs but then not open the windows to not lose what heat there is. A recipe for disaster when it comes to mould.

wibblewobblex · 18/12/2020 17:30

Thank you everyone, very informative responses and appreciated xx

OP posts:
ToffeeNotCoffee · 25/12/2020 15:56

Mould is usually caused through lifestyle, for example not ventilating rooms, drying washing indoors, not using a cooker vent

Are you a landlord ?

Tenants have legal rights. They are not house sitters while your house increases in value.

Lineofconcepcion · 25/12/2020 18:08

@ToffeeNotCoffee what causes mould?

ToffeeNotCoffee · 25/12/2020 18:55

Non functioning, 'blown' double glazing.
Condensation running down the inside of the 'blown' double glazing regardless of the season. Black mould on the windowsill.
Central heating that wasn't working properly.
A gas fire that had been condemned but we didn't find that out before we moved in to what turned out to be a shitty cunting rental. We had a shitty cunting 'Landlord' and a shitty cunting bone idle patronising bastard Letting Agent.
Bathroom extractor fan that did not work, and had been taped over. Kitchen extractor hood that did not work.
No insulation between the floor of the en-suite and the garage beneath it.

We made a formal complaint to the Local Authority and someone from the housing or Environment Department came round but could not identify any Category 1 health hazards.

We couldn't wait to leave and really were NOT sorry to vacate. Making sure that we got our full deposit.

I have a hunch that the shitty 'landlord' moved back in and her partner rented his house out so that he became responsible in law as Landlord.

We wrote so many letters to her as advised by Shelter. Hand delivered by as she was living in her partner's house that was in a neighbouring street.

dontdisturbmenow · 26/12/2020 11:57

We couldn't wait to leave and really were NOT sorry to vacate. Making sure that we got our full deposit
I'm not surprised. I wouldn't have moved in in the first instance.

ToffeeNotCoffee · 26/12/2020 14:24

Neither would we but our landlord of the property we were renting previously gave us notice under section 21 of the Housing Act or whatever the legal framework was.

We didn't want to move too far from where we were living, not even to a different suburb. My husband remarked that it was a cold house. We viewed it in January. I put it down to the fact that the central heating had not been on since the house was vacated a couple of weeks previously.

I ended up eating my words. Lesson learned.

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