Damp/condensation problems

Hi,
I have done quite a few of these acting for both Landlord and Tenant and from court experience a couple of things worth noting is:

1. The judge often says to both parties the situation was totally avoidable had the LL and T talked to each other as soon as mould started to appear and jointly took action to control the problem working in partnership before the problem got that bad there was degradation. This is obviously helped by the LL setting out rules / procedures for such an occurrence from the start of the tenancy agreement and if these are not in place you are immediately on the back foot because you are running a business and the tenant is a layperson in these matters.
2. Condensation is a form of dampness they are not different so if condensation with associated mould growth occurred the property was unacceptably damp.
3. A damp-proofing contractors evidence is considered to have a conflict of interest so you need an independent specialist surveyor to investigate and report their findings whose duty is to the court. Such surveyors may be found on the Property Care Association website under find a member and selecting Freelance Surveyor or Consultant as the rest are contractors. The contractor cannot walk in and simply take a conductivity meter set of readings on wall surfaces after the tenant has left and declare the tenant was at fault, that would simply leave you open to getting torn to pieces in court by a good independent specialist surveyor.
4. Before you appoint such a surveyor it is preferable both parties jointly appoint that surveyor and agree to abide by the findings so that there are not two expert wintnesses arguing with each other.
5. By mindful that whilst you as LL are claiming for damage to flat the T will probably counter claim for damage to belongings and impact upon their health.
6. These cases are by no means straight forward and although the damp contractor you have employed to date may turn round and say - "oh it was the tenants fault ", a good specialist surveyor acting for the other side will probably pull your property apart regarding defects / inappropriate background and mechanical ventilation, heating systems and insulation such that you could well come off worse if it went to court. The court also tends to side with the tenant from the off simply because they tend to always appear to be the victim with poor health etc

Sorry it's not the best news for you but I only say this from experience in order that you go into such a dispute with your eyes wide open.

Kindest regards, David Aldred Independent damp and timber surveyor.

Hi,
For a bond of £300 in all honesty if it were me I would tend to write it off because as I say this could end up going badly the other way for you such that you wished you had never entered into the dispute especially if the tenant is on the ball.

All I would say is get the rules and procedures in place so that it is in writing as part of the tenancy agreement that as soon as any significant mould occurs it is the responisibility of the tenant to put it in writing to the Landlord that such has occurred and that it is inspected asap with the course of action documented for both parties to sign off at that time that they agree to that course of action with a follow up document as to how successful that action has been. Periodic inspections by the LL or the LA that are not infrequent obviously help as does regular dialogue between the tenant and lanlord.

You can see that if you just leave the tenant to their own devices and go to inspect the flat a year or so down the line then this is when often a dispute arises.

The key is procedures and systems in place to remove the risk of significant condensation related mould occurrence. You can help by the following:
Ensure there is controllable background ventilation to all rooms.
Have central heating on a programmable thermostat such that the boiler is hunting for minimum temperatures and trips in and out above the dew point.
Fit strong self closers on all bathroom / kitchen /utility doors and fix permamanent notices on all these doors in big letters warning the tenant against wedging them open such that this will be entirely at their own risk / cost if mould occurs.

Fit humidistat controlled extractor fans to kitchen / bathroom / utilty that hunt for relative humidty exceeding say 65%RH (mould will flourish at 74%RH and above) and activate automatically without the tenant having to put them on. Such units to be 150mm diameter and 60 litres air / second air exchange. These units to overrun at least 15 minutes once activated. The 100mm diameter 15 litres / second units are often put in bathrooms / utility areas but I find these can be inadeqaute. The advantage of these fans is they are automatic so the tenant is not involved in their activation. Fans that are manually operated / noisy / are only put on when the light is on are totally inadeqaute for a tenanted dwelling.

Consider a PIV unit with heater to push moisture laden air away.
Ensure loft voids are adequately insulated and the ventilation increased to compensate for the consequential drop in temperature on the cold side of the insulation.
Provide a means for drying clothes that will not impact upon the relative humidity within the property such as a condensing dryer and fit covers over radiators that discourage the tenant hanging clothes upon them.
Use anti-fungicidal paints / pastes in all redecoration work throughout.
Do not have beds against cold outside walls.
Limit the clutter within flats the tenant can bring in as part of the tenancy agreement. Clothes and belongings stacked floor to ceiling don't help air flow.
Limit length of curtains beyond windows where practical to do so as they reduce airflow.
Vent closed voids.
If chimney breasts are in place consider opening these up as they will provide 2-5 air changes to rooms per hour.
Ensure the sub floor void beneath any suspended timber floors is adeqautely ventilated as dampness rising up from a damp sub floor will impact upon the condensation / mould issues beyond which the tenant can reasonably be expected to control and such moisture will also decay floors.
Do not have fitted wardrobes upon outside walls.
Photograph everything with date stamped photos before tenant takes up tenancy and give one set to them and you retain one set for future reference.
There is loads more but I need to get some breakfast (laughing), hope this goes some way to helping - kindest regards David Aldred Independent damp and timber surveyor.

David , you have given some good suggestions there with the exception of the first part of this bit :

“Limit the clutter within flats the tenant can bring in as part of the tenancy agreement. Clothes and belongings stacked floor to ceiling don't help air flow.”

You can certainly advise them not to cram stuff up against walls etc but if you are granting a Tenancy , with its resultant exclusive occupation of the property, then you really can’t tell the T how many items of clothing or personal belongings they may bring in with them.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

Why are you dealing with the tenant's father, is he named on the tenancy agreement? You say the tenant notified you of the damp, and admitted drying laundry inappropriately but did you call a professional in to ensure there wasn't an underlying issue or did you assume condensation? Do you have a paper trial of all communication, or was some verbal and so can be disputed in court?