Humidity meter

[HeadFairy]

I have inherited from my dad a Victorian house, which the tenant says has a black mould issue. Obviously I want to get rid of it, but the flat was empty for years and didn’t have a scrap of mould in it, despite being unheated. I think a combination of the tenant drying washing in the house and natural condensation from people being in it, has created the conditions for the mould. Is there such a thing as a humidity meter I can access remotely to see how the levels fluctuate so we can work out the best way to remedy it?

Yes there is. I have some that run via the smart life app.

For smart life generally you get 2 kinds. One that needs a zigbee hub. The other that links into standard wireless (2.4GHz) and operates over that. You will need a wireless router for both. If you don't have broadband in the house because it is unoccupied you will need to get something like a router that has a wireless SIM card option.

The humidity meters are about £10-£20 each and I can see you can pick up 4G routers for about £40.

Use "smart life temperature sensor wifi" search on amazon.

Why waste time/money with a humidity meter which is just going to confirm there is moisture in the air? You already know that due to the mould.

Get a decent dehumidifier and make sure the tenant is opening the windows for 15 minutes a day.

I probably wouldn't use a dehumidifier.

Tenants probably wouldn't empty it or switch it on because it costs too much to run or be too much hassle (they will still complain about the mould though).

I would probably go for positive input ventilation, and make sure there were automatic extraction fans fitted in high humidity areas like bathrooms, kitchens etc.

You can get extraction fans with built in humidity sensors.

Thanks for this, I think you’re right about not bothering with a humidity meter, it’s clearly damp.
@Worsthousebeststreet how can I ensure they open windows? I reduced rent to allow them to turn the heating on and it’s in their tenancy agreement not to dry clothes on radiators etc in the flat, but I’m guessing they must have done so given the amount of mould. I did wonder whether to leave one of those heated drying racks in there. There is a tumble dryer but they didn’t use it because it’s too expensive to run.

I don't know the answer to that I'm afraid - but it's one of the well known solutions for the inevitable damp in old houses, so it's in their best interests to just do it if they don't want to live with black mould!

As a landlord there is only so much you can do because these old houses are just the way they are.

But...you can lead a horse to water and all that......

Yeah, thanks. I guess we’ll have to make it explicit that if they dry clothes indoors and get mould, they potentially face losing their deposit.