Damp room in flat - whose responsibility? Landlord? Freeholder? WHO!?

[MrsBeDreadingTrickOrTreat]

The gist of things:

Renting a flat. Moved in 3 years ago, had very bad mould/condensation issues especially in kids room. Could open windows as they were very old and painted/screwed shut. So put the mould/damp down to that.

Since had new windows installed and they're open at least 8h a day. Now that it's getting cooler and wet again the mould is creaping in again and the kids room smells musty.

Last winter I basically had to wash down the outer walls and corners with bleach or the like about once a week. Not ideal. Mentioned it to landlord and she said just air the place. I think 8h of open window does qualify as that?

Spoke to my boss, who's in building and another colleague and they both reckon it's either raising damp (we're groundfloor) or coming in through the concrete walls.

Also landlord redid the bathroom last November and after just 1-2 weeks the paint etc on the ceiling started to flake and mould - and that's with the bathroom window being open almost 24/7!. 3 Letters later she hasn't addressed that yet either... bathroom has same facing outer walls as kids room as next to each other.

Questions really are:
how do I find out what's causing it?
who needs to care of it?
How do I get my landlord to do anything?

I'm not sure but could the damp/mould cause sleeping problems (ds dreadful)? Suspecting is responsible for dd's reoccurring cough.

HELP!

Thanks and hope it makes sort of sense

well, i'd have thought this wd definitely be landlord's responsibility. He'/she shoudl sort it and fast as health hazard for yr kids potentially , isn't it? can you ask the agent/CAB for advice? Also chekc yr contract to see what it specifies re maintenance & repairs.

Get the doctor to write a letter to your Landlord to say about his cough. We suffer from damp and our landlords fitted a kind of extractor fan to take out all the damp air.

Oh, our damp only started after new windows were fitted as well.

Regardless of the ultimate responsibility for the cause, your contract is with your landlord. It is up to him/her to deal with freeholder as required. This site might help.

might do that re taking dd and ds to gp to see whether they can concoct a note thanks.

Our contract sort of is we're not allowed to do anything in the flat without written consent from the landlord...

Some councils require all landlords to register w/them and provide a license.

Ours does.

If landlord fails to make needed repairs to his/her property they can lose their license to let and get fined and even lose their property.

This sounds serious b/c it sound as if the building suffers from damp, and it is the obligation of the owners to keep the building in good repair.

Our council will also carry out repairs they feel are exigent - such a masonry, as falling masonry has killed people here - and bill the owners.

They will also do assessments and bill the owner.

I'd contact your council's environmental health service and see what they say.

thanks Lizs just having a look now. My colleague told me to be firm. I told him the history and that I think the ll is quite scatty and he went 'oh no m'dear she's having you on' (he's Irish)

It is most definitely your landlord's problem but she could boot you out if you cause 'trouble' so I would approach this with care. I would say your first step would be to take yourself down to the Citizens Advice with your tenancy agreement just to make absolutly sure your landlord should be dealing with this. Second, ask your doctor to give you a note stating that your childs cough is down to sleeping in a damp room. Armed with this write to your landlord (and you need to start recording all phonecalls to/from her) and state that there is a problem etc etc and if she doesn't get someone in to have a look you will. She needs a kick up the arse, too many landlords take the p* imo.

Of course if you don't want the hassle you could always find somewhere else? HTH.

if i were you i'd look for some where else to live. if your landlord couldn't care less about the state of their property then they aren't going to care less about you and your kids.

She ain't scatty, she's greedy.

As for her booting you out, I wouldn't be worried about that in the slightest - who's going to rent it once they walk into that room?

Yeah, right.

And you've tried to contact her.

Time to get tough b/c your child's health is at issue.

It is her responsibility to deal w/it. It is NOT your problem.

Your problem is paying the rent.

tell me your not renting from accommodate....:S

'who's going to want to rent'... well atm the mould doesn't show because I obviously scrape/clean etc constantly. Also once we're out all she'd have to do is some cosmetic touchups so the new tenant wouldn't be any wiser until of course everything comes through again...

As for moving somewhere else. We have looked but as dd just started school it would have to be in the vicinity and anything that we can afford and had a look at is even worse! and what some agencies dare advertise as double bedrooms... argh.

LadyD nope renting direct but was brokered by Haart

Lizs - thanks for the link had to laugh when I saw one of the links 'Problems with your landlord - how the council can help'

so Haart will have taken a % of yr rent in commission from landlady for every mth yr renting - they therefore sd carry some responsibility! Go and knock on their door too!

we tried that once but we got 'we only did the contract we're not managing'. Have just done a letter to landlord informing her of problem (again) and requesting assessment. Have also emailed our local council enquiring about documentation and potential health risk assessment . My brain hurts!

My DH lived in a damp flat in his final year of Uni. He was constantly cleaning up mould. It wasn't until he moved out of it that we realised how ill it had been making him.

Some types of mould are really toxic.

I would be really concerned that your kids have coughs and would get them out of there quick smart if possible.

Sorry I know this doesn't really help, but it sounds like it'll take a lot to sort out the damp problem.

Most Damp & Timber treatment companies offer free assesments of potential problems, and obviously, they would be able to tell you exactly what was causing it (rising damp, inadequate ventilation, whatever). You wouldn't have to tell them you're renting (as this might just put them off if they thought they weren't going to get business out of it at the end).

I suggest this because if the landlady is trying to wriggle out of it, any "assesment" she organises could be played down, or even "set up" by getting a friend round pretending to be an expert (stranger things have happened).

If you have your own independent reports (I'd get at least 2) she won't have a leg to stand on.

wcm, I thought similar. Have already emailed local council to ask how I can get it assessed. did mention kids and mould so hopefully they'll pull finger.

little update Hadn't heard from landlord so left message on answerphone nicely mentioning that I could speak to the council/environmental health to find out how we could have the situation assessed cheaply.

Lone behold I got a response letter dropped throught the door the same day that ll has contacted managing agents of estate who will call to make appointment to advise. Amazing what a little phrase like environmental health can achieve...