Letting agency said penetrating damp would dry out and let it be

[curiousphxsun]

I have been in my first flat since the end of June and days after I moved in after a big storm, a massive penetrating damp patch appeared below the bay window and a smaller one above my bedroom window.

Now, the agency did send their contractor out first thing on the Monday but he just concluded that it was penetrating damp and not my fault. He said to get back in touch if it didn't dry out by the end of the week. I did but no response.

A few weeks later, I spoke with him and the agency and he then said it would take months to dry out because the wall is solid brick. I've had to foot the bill for the dehumidifiers because all of the rooms never get below 60% unless it is very warm and dry out (so hardly ever here on the coast in North Tyneside).

They've also told me not to worry about what my hygrometers say. I follow their advice to avoid damp and keep my windows on the latch but when I open the windows, the hygrometers will go up to 66-67%. They said it's better to keep the air flowing then worry about the reading. So, I only close them completely if I know it's going to rain. Is this true? Are they doing enough or is it okay to have the penetrating damp sit there? Is it contributing to the high humidity levels (or is that just being so close to the water?).

^My day to day concern is the overall indoor humidity as I realise the penetrating damp is largely out of my control and not my fault

I'm just at a loss. I'm originally from an extremely dry desert climate and previously lived in new build accommodation so this is all new to me. Thank you

If you're renting the flat I would plan to move out as soon as I could as per the contract. Wouldn't want to live in a place with so much damp long term.

Have you got a rent reduction? Are they helping pay your electricity?
You could call environmental health department at your local council.

Did the contractor actually do anything to sort out the cause of the damp?

I'd recommend moving when you can. Our last place was like this and we ended up moving out after the initial 6 months was up, when we'd planned to stay until we could buy somewhere (so at least a year). When we came to leave (at the height of summer), we found it was much worse than we thought, and there was now black mould all the way up the living room wall behind where we'd had a bookcase. Absolutely screwed us over financially to move so soon, but damp leads to mould which is really dangerous.

My contract goes until the end of December as I have a six month contract as well. This flat is much further from work than necessary so it wouldn't be the worst thing to move.

He just came round and was looking at the walls and feeling if it was wet. I had literally only been in a week so he said it wasn't me. Although, he did say that they had been managing this property for 15-20 years and had never seen something like this. I presume he means that much damp literally appearing overnight as it is England and I can guarantee most houses have dealt with at least a bit of damp at one point or another.

Sounds like they don't have a clue and don't care to.

If moving is pretty easy for you, do it.

Don't underestimate the danger of mould. For me, it was the tipping point of having years of ear, nose, throat and chest infections which I had largely got past, to then having fully blown M.E. and being permanently ill with no end or cure in sight. There is not a single day in the last seven years when I have felt well.

Don't put up with mould, not even for a week.

No to both. I had to pay my rent upfront because I don't have a UK based guarantor and my contract ends at the end of December. I have to chat with the letting agency soon about my visa so I may discuss this as well. I need to establish a paper trail because the previous recommendations about leaving the windows open even if the hygrometers read 65+ (as they do right now as I'm writing this), was just in a spoken conversation and I have no proof. It's just frustrating that I don't know how to prove that I'm rotating between having the windows open and running the dehumidifiers the best I can while still needing to leave for work. I'll try and find the council number. Thank you for the replies

I also live on the NE coast and have just had a similar issue fixed. As I understand it penetrating damp won't dry out until the source of the water is sorted. Could be leaking gutter or similar which is a simple fix, but in my case it was far more complex and took months of work to fix. Even if they sort the issue it will take weeks for the walls to dry out.

Don't let them fob you off, without a proper fix it won't ever be sorted out and water will continue to come through the wall. Leaving the windows open won't do anything (the source of the moisture is not internal), and running humidifiers is just burning money and will never stop the damp coming through.

Call Shelter https://england.shelter.org.uk/. They have a feee helpline and are brilliant with advice for renters including problems with landlords not doing adequate repairs.

Just to add, I'm near the NW coast, and even in our massive house the humidity feels REALLY high today; there's almost no wind and it's very warm.

Today might not be the best day to look at internal humidity readings.

Realistically, you will have to move. If you stay you will suffer health consequences from the damp mouldy conditions. As well as high gas and electric bills. You could lose your furniture and clothes to mould too. There's lots of homes for rent with damp problems unfortunately. The landlords never fix it because the repairs are too expensive and might need for the property to have nobody living there whilst extensive works are carried out. This situation doesn't make an instant profit for the landlord, so they just rent it out as it is.

I can see you had no choice and needed to pay upfront rent for the duration of the tenancy. Unfortunately one downside of this is that the landlord already has your money, meaning with no possibility of you witholding rent the landlord is less inclined to do repairs.

Environmental health takes ages to do anything and gives the landlord chance after chance to do bodgy repairs that may improve the issue but probably won't fix it. The landlord will drag it out as long as possible, do the bare minimum, you will leave and they'll rent the place out to some other unsuspecting person. There are tenants rights in the UK regarding repairs, but they're largely unenforceable in private rentals.

Buy a cheap damp meter from a hardware store, look for a new place to rent and test the walls on viewing. The advantage of somewhere slightly tatty-looking is you know it's dry (if there's no mould or damp stains) and the landlord hasn't recently repainted for the purpose of hiding the mould. The only way to know if it just needed decorating or has been done to hide a damp problem is to use your damp meter. Obviously be wary of any viewing where there's a dehumidifier in the place, you can pretty much guarantee the property has a damp problem. Ditto if it smells damp. Or if they're leaving the windows cracked open constantly, or the heating on, when nobody lives there. It's just not necessary in a property that isn't damp.

Unfortunately one downside of this is that the landlord already has your money, meaning with no possibility of you witholding rent the landlord is less inclined to do repairs.

Unfortunately with UK tenancy agreements, even if they're not carrying out repairs, you cannot withhold your rent.

The law sides with LL's when it comes to this. If you withhold rent due to lack of repairs it will just make it easier for them to evict you.

The only way to deal with these things is down the council route.

And even then, you still risk getting a section 21 notice and eviction. Although, I believe, LL's aren't allowed to evict a tenant for 6 months following a Council Improvement notice, but you have to actually get to that point in the first place, which is a battle in itself.

Move as soon as you can.

The agent works for the landlord. The landlord is clearly one of those who has no intention of ever spending a penny on the property and I can guarantee you it will get a lot worse in winter.

I personally would not make a huge fuss about this issue though it is very annoying. Just signal your intention to leave in December due to the damp. Maybe they will try harder to fix the issue if they realise you won’t just put up with it. But if not, move on.

Thank you! I'm going to talk with the local customer first centre on Thursday then stop by the letting agency afterward.

It's just such a shame because the property is otherwise well kept, in a prime location and quite frankly, the landlord could be charging more for it. I absolutely loved the place when I moved in but even though there's no mold yet, I have so much anxiety about it forming. I'm on the middle floor of a three story building and the downstairs girls said they hadn't had any issues. I haven't had the chance to speak to upstairs yet. It's very frustrating.

I am very lucky to be in the financial position where I don't need to stress terribly about rent or electric payments. I don't want to go that far especially as I'm on a visa.

I'll be speaking with the council's general customer service desk later in the week for some advice and then I'll go back to the agency. I don't want to be much trouble but want to put my foot down about the fact that these issues could get worse.

It's just such a shame because the property is otherwise well kept, in a prime location and quite frankly, the landlord could be charging more for it.

It's cheap because it's got a damp problem OP. I hope you can find something better for your next tenancy.

Hi - someone born and raised in cold, damp locations here. Your landlord does need to fix this, if it suddenly appeared it is more likely than not caused by something external (gutters, pipes) - insist that they send someone to find and address the cause. It will save them money down the line to fix it before it wrecks the walls, incl paintwork and such. However, I wanted to reassure you that 60% is not that unusually high, and if there is an easy fix and it seems to be a contained problem in one area only, then you shouldn’t worry too much about your health. Many properties in cold/damp/coastal areas sit at 55-69% all year round without a major damp issue. But get them to fix it before it does become a big issue with mould.