Help with tenants

[nuggles]

I’ve had the same tenants for 7 years who have been pretty good until the last few years.

It’s a tiny 3 bed house and there’s now 6 of them, plus a cat and dog. In the past year I’ve had a new roof fitted, new kitchen, new locks and a new shed. Haven’t increased their rent in 5 years.

Mould started appearing in the house - had the council out who told me its largely due to the tenants lifestyles - literally there is shit everywhere you can’t see the floor.

Had 2 painters go round to quote for me last week to paint the bedrooms where the mould was (new roof was because of rotting felt which is now repaired) hence mould.

My issue is almost all the workmen plus council have said its the way they are living which is causing condensation problems.

I’ve even bought a dehumidifier for them, given them written advice on airing property, not drying washing indoors etc etc.

Advised them on decluttering etc and they’re now blaming me for their kids having colds.

Arrrrgh! My poor first house is now a complete and utter shithole.
Advice anyone?

P.S. sorry for the long ranting post

Only one thing you can do because they won't change. Give them their notice to stop further wreckage.

This will probably stop the rent - they might as well as it doesn't hasten the eviction. So make sure you have suitable insurances in place. And that all the legals are right so that your section 21 won't be thrown out.

BTW I assume the 6 is because they have had kids? If they have brought in extra adults then you have an illegal hmo and you really need to shift them.

I’d give them notice if I were you. Might also be worth mentioning to them that colds are viral infections, and they should open their windows once in a while.

I am both a landlord and a tenant.

I spent some of today cleaning mould in the bathroom, but we are living in a 1750s house with single glazing and underfloor heating. We air the bathroom every day, as there is no extractor; the windows and mirrors are karchered to remove the condensation caused by showering, and we will be investigating buying a small dehumidifier to run in the bathroom. We are abroad, and so can run electrical items in the bathroom using the sockets installed there!!!!

I do dry washing indoors, after it's had a good spin, but again, in well ventilated and heated rooms. In the last place we rented here, that was in the garage as it was so warm stuff dried overnight. I do dry outside if at all possible, and bedding and towels go in the condensing dryer.

When I went back to the UK to sort my own place out post one set of tenants who didn't want to heat or air my house, it costs me a shed load to sort, including taking plaster off back to the stonework on the walls and having them coated in tanking slurry and replastered. The damage two older well educated people could cause to a large 4 bed house amazed me.

I would give them notice, otherwise you will be pouring money into this for ever. The house we rent now is special, and I won't ever get the chance to live in a house like this again, so I am prepared for the mould and the problems living in an older house, but then, I own one in the UK. I know about ventilating and heating a place, but some evidently don't.

It's not that complicated surely? If you are sure it's their fault and they won't change their habits then serve them notice.

Thanks everyone. I thought just as much re giving them notice.

And yep there’s 6 of them because of kids.

Time to bite the bullet and write my notice

The sooner you do it the better as I believe the Revenge Evictions law is being widened next year to include tenants who have been in situ for some time. I'm not suggesting that you are making a revenge eviction but LLs will have to be more careful in the future to make sure that their motives for giving notice cannot be framed as wanting to get rid of tenants whose properties are in need of repairs.

They are obviously not willing to maintain the property no matter what major improvements you make.
It's time to give notice and hopefully you will be able to find some decent tenants who will take care of the house in future.

I am a tenant and have had residual mould problems and some things were a mess due to previous tenant not looking after the property. My poor landlord, who is lovely, had to replaster loads of walls once we moved in and her lovely wooden window frames had gone all mouldy too. (she didn't quite notice the extent to which damage had been caused by previous tenant - no one ever aired the house and they left it a dump). Once she found out after we moved in she sorted it asap (she lives away and someone else manages the property, so she didn't actually see the property between tenants)

So yes agree you need better tenants as damp from condensation literally crumbles the walls and turns everything black and mouldy!

I agree you need to get rid of these tenants, youve tried to educate them but they are not willing. There are alot of people living there, I assume babies so lots of washing being aired on radiators etc is likely the main cause.

However, some houses do seem to incur condensation/damp more easiyy than others - while it is empty I would get a damp specialist out just to check it, maybe look at window vents, loft venting, airbricks, check the bathroom and kitchen fans etc. Whilst its empty you may also want to look at cavity wall insulation and loft insulation (possibly free) so that the next tenants have cheaper energy bills and can heat the house more thoroughly.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, am giving them notice on Monday.

Dreading the state of the house when they leave. And yes too many of them in the house and so much clutter isn’t letting the walls breathe which is going to end up costing me a fortune if I let them carry on.

Being a landlord first time is a learning curve

Good luck. Make sure all paperwork is OK as they may be system players. I hope you have rent guarantee and legal expenses insurance.

Join NLA for about £100 and use their free helpline and notices to quit. Then spend some time going through their library and get educated! (dont mean that horribly)