damp in a rented house

hunny33 · 10 January 2008 at 4:03PM

hi, i'm in need of advice, we are 6 months in to a 12 month rental agreement, and the house is really damp, it grows black mould very well in two bedrooms, hall, living room, and bathroom.
i have been back to the estate agent to tell them about this lots of times, i was told that they were aware of the problem before we moved in!
there advice was not to out furniture near the walls, and leave the windows open.
today they came round and told us the landlord can't fix the problems with us in the property, so will let us out of the 12 month contract if we can't live there.
my mind heard put up or go!!
what do you all think.

drc · 10 January 2008 at 4:28PM

You should phone Shelter as they are really good for housing advice:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/home/index.cfm

I would also think about contacting your local Environmental Health Dept. I think there are laws regarding living conditions in a rented home which could be detrimental to a tenants health.

TBH does sound like the ball is in your court - either put up with it or move out. But perhaps consider getting a rent reduction (from landlord) until you can find another place? Whatever you do, DO NOT withold rent as this can backfire on you legally.

pinkshoes · 10 January 2008 at 4:42PM

I think you should go back to the EA and ask if they have another suitable property at the same price, in a similar area that you can rent for the rest of the 12 month period, and make sure they don't charge any fees for paperwork, and perhaps it would be nice if they paid for a removal van...

Knowingly renting out a property with bad damp is cheeky!

Strapped · 10 January 2008 at 7:53PM

Agree with pinkshoes.

We were in a similar position not so long ago, when we initially rented after relocating across the country. One bedroom actually had water pouring through when it rained!

The LL tried to pull the same "if you don't like it, you can move out". We did, but we also negotiated a 25% rent reduction for the time that we were there (the whole period). Naturally, LL was reluctant (understatement) to agree to this and cough up the refund, but we stuck to our guns, threatened small claims and eventually they backed down and paid up.

flower_72 · 10 January 2008 at 8:30PM

I really sympathise. Black mould growing on walls again and again would get me down.
Damp can be caused by so many things but can sometimes be solved very easily. Regularly opening windows, not drying clothes inside the house... And my top answer to humidity and dampness: a dehumidifier! How about asking your landlord to buy you one? Eebac does some good ones, they cost just over £100 and will be good enough to dehumidify a 3 bedroom house.
You would both win on this. The landlord gets the damp/ humidity under control and no further damage to his property. You get to live in a mould free house AND a house that's easier to heat. (It takes longer to heat up a humid room.) They are also very cheap to run. I used to run mine every night all night as I was on a cheaper night tarif.
I would honestly approach the landord about this. At least it shows you want to solve the problem not just cause trouble. I'd try to win the agent's and landlord's cooperation on this rather than start quoting bits of legislation. In my xperience the former gets you somewhere, the latter gives you stress and little success.
You can also buy (or ask the lanlord to buy) some specific mould treatment stuff that are more powerful than the usual detol stuff one can buy in supermarket. You can buy the "super mould killer" from places like B&Q. A big bottle would last you for ever and cost something like a fiver.
Hope this helps a bit.

clutton_2 · 10 January 2008 at 9:21PM

black mould is frequently caused by condensation. Condensation is caused by lack of ventilation. I come across this time and time again in my properties - i am not saying OP does this - but many tenants will not heat all their rooms, they dry clothes inside, they do not open windows and they keep the door shut - moisture from damp clothes has to go somewhere, it does into the walls and causes black spotted patches. i have even had tenants tape shut air bricks "cos there is a draught". Then they try to blame me for the mould !!

A de humidifier is a great idea

selectcase · 10 January 2008 at 11:14PM

totally agree with the two posts above relating to condensation. We stopped it by first killing the existing mould with a fungicidal spray from b&q then wiped over with diluted bleach solution, we now make sure we always open windows when we can to ventilate rooms and it has not come back since for 3 years - total cost was about £15 - we did buy a de-humidifier but it was not really necessary for us

damp in a rented house

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