I own and have lived in a freehold 1st floor flat. It’s a 1970s block with cavity wall construction. Over the last two winters I have had terrible mould growth on the exterior lounge and bedroom wall. Followed all the usual mould advice and treatment and it’s still coming back, even at this time of year.
I commissioned a report from an independent damp company and they believe the issue to be poor exterior maintenance of the building.
Flat management company disagreed and wanted their own report, totally fine.
When my report was done, the pictures taken were of close up areas of mould and humidity/temperature/damp readings.
The RICS surveyor report has just come back and he has included wide shot pictures of my bedroom, which unfortunately shows the bed and the floor as a bit of a mess as I was sorting and folding clean laundry before he came.
The RICS surveyor didn’t ask about taking wider pictures of my bed/bedroom and was quite rude during the visit commenting that the mould was clearly due to my lifestyle (sink of washing up/ the streaky shower screen and the boxes of stuff in my lounge as our garage is getting a new roof so had to be cleared out and why I had been behind on chores over weekend) and doesn’t include the list of things we have done/do to manage the mould.
I feel pictures of my whole bedroom don’t really add any value or evidence to the report and the report has gone to several people at the management agency and the directors of the flat owners group.
I feel that the picture was really unnecessary alongside comments of the mould is clearly caused by the inhabitants lifestyle choices, has been used to imply that Im the cause of the mould as I’m slovenly and it’s really upset me.
I really feel like the surveyor should have asked if pictures were ok. Am I being oversensitive and is this normal for a damp inspection report? Is it worth/do I have any grounds to complain to RICS as a governing body?