Mould & damp - can anyone please help?

[Newmama2222]

Hi fellow mums,

I am moving house (rental) and got accepted on a lovely looking property, I was really pleased until I went for a second viewing this week and noticed this on the ceiling. I followed up with the estate agent asking if it could be attended to prior to my move in (I have a young toddler and have experienced mould in the home before and do not wish to again if I can help it!) I got a dismissive email back to say ten landlord says it’s not urgent and will have it looked it and let me know timelines when I’m on situ. I’m a bit uncomfortable with this but am not sure if I’m over worrying because of previous experiences. Do you think this looks bad? Would you go ahead or insist the landlord attend to prior to move in? I didn’t get a chance to assess the rest of the place properly so hoping it’s only this one spot.

For context it’s the top floor just outside the bedroom, i was meant to move in next week although I haven’t signed yet just while this is figured out.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I’m feeling quite unsure! X

got a dismissive email back to say ten landlord says it’s not urgent and will have it looked it and let me know timelines when I’m on situ

I would think twice about moving in if you have the choice. Is the roof space above that ceiling? It looks like the roof is leaking if so.

That’s right @PlutoCat above that is the roof as it’s the room at the very top just outside where the bedrooms are. I have no idea what the process would be to repair but as it’s raining so much at the moment it does make me nervous!

What size is it?

I would agree that it’s not urgent. Urgent to me is no hot water etc. They’ve said they will give a timeline, just not an urgent one.

If it was inside a bedroom I would be more cautious but if it’s on the landing or in a hallway and they’ve agreed to follow it up, and everything else in the home looks cared for and in good order, then I personally would still move in.

Only you know how much tolerance you have for it though, and what your other options are.

I would go back to the agent and say I need to know what is causing it and how much disturbance will be involved in rectifying it. Point out that the landlord must know what the problem is if he says its not urgent. That way you can have a bit of piece of mind. Its a perfectly reasonable question - no need to be too timid.

get in touch with the previous tenant and find out from them how "quick" the LL is at dealing with repairs

If there are no water pipes above that in the loft then LL has a roof leak and would be a fool to treat that as "not urgent" since it is their property that is being damaged.

It depends how desperate you are for the property. If you don't sign the contract and start getting pissy with them then I suspect the LL will just turn around and say "next"! Probably plenty of people wanting to rent.

But if you're not in desperate need to move then I'd do what others have suggested and ask for more specific time frame and / or have it written into the contract that you have contacted them prior to moving in and they had s advised it will be fixed by .... date .

We had similar in driving rain. It was not urgent, it dried out and didn't recur for 5 years.

Interesting @NuovaPilbeam was yours in the top of the house? Below the roof?

Personally, I wouldn't worry overly about that because it looks as though it's caused by something that should be reasonably straightforward to get sorted. I would clean the mould off with mould remover spray and keep an eye on it. You might need to run a dehumidifier following wet weather to dry it out when it leaks.