Landlord Never Fixes Things - What do I do?

purplegirluk1

Hi, I hope I am posting this in the right place.

I have lived in a rented flat for a year and a half. In that time there have been various problems, some small some large. The landlord is a man who owns a few properties and lets them himself, no agency. We contact him when there is a problem. Whenever there is a problem he is very slow to take action, there was on pccasion when the timeswitch went on the boiler and we were without hot water for a few days. There were no control knobs on the night storage heater in either of the bedrooms and although I have spoken to him about it numerous times and written two letters has has done nothing about them. Anyway my main issue is we have some damp in the bedroooms. I spoke to him about it last year, I showed him the mould on the base of my bed etc. He suggested it was the windows and said he would replace them, then nothing. I spoke to him on the phone and wrote two letters to no avail. I ended up leaving it over the winter as the heating dried the damp out. Now of course I have no heaters on and the damp is back. I spoke to landlord who came and measured the windows, that was over a month ago and I have heard nothing else. I ended up calling the council environmental health office and they sent someone round. He tested the walls and said it was low-level damp and that is was not considered to be a health risk and as such they could not make the landlord do anything but they could make suggestions. That was two weeks ago and I have still not heard anything from him! All they suggested was new windows with trickle vents and an elbow on a drain pipe outside. What am I supposed to do?? He has spent a year not changing the windows and is still not doing anything while my bed is now covered in mould, my sons wardrobe is covered in mould and the carpets in both bedrooms smell terribly. Who do I speak to now? I just have no idea. I have looked into moving but for the rent I pay I would lose space and the garden plus I can't actually afford the fee's, deposit etc so its a no go at the mo.

Sorry for the ramble I just don't know what to do about it. I have arranged to have central heating put in though warm front so I do want to stay. Any ideas?

barnaby-bear

purplegirluk1 wrote: »

Hi, I hope I am posting this in the right place.

I have lived in a rented flat for a year and a half. In that time there have been various problems, some small some large. The landlord is a man who owns a few properties and lets them himself, no agency. We contact him when there is a problem. Whenever there is a problem he is very slow to take action, there was on pccasion when the timeswitch went on the boiler and we were without hot water for a few days. There were no control knobs on the night storage heater in either of the bedrooms and although I have spoken to him about it numerous times and written two letters has has done nothing about them. Anyway my main issue is we have some damp in the bedroooms. I spoke to him about it last year, I showed him the mould on the base of my bed etc. He suggested it was the windows and said he would replace them, then nothing. I spoke to him on the phone and wrote two letters to no avail. I ended up leaving it over the winter as the heating dried the damp out. Now of course I have no heaters on and the damp is back. I spoke to landlord who came and measured the windows, that was over a month ago and I have heard nothing else. I ended up calling the council environmental health office and they sent someone round. He tested the walls and said it was low-level damp and that is was not considered to be a health risk and as such they could not make the landlord do anything but they could make suggestions. That was two weeks ago and I have still not heard anything from him! All they suggested was new windows with trickle vents and an elbow on a drain pipe outside. What am I supposed to do?? He has spent a year not changing the windows and is still not doing anything while my bed is now covered in mould, my sons wardrobe is covered in mould and the carpets in both bedrooms smell terribly. Who do I speak to now? I just have no idea. I have looked into moving but for the rent I pay I would lose space and the garden plus I can't actually afford the fee's, deposit etc so its a no go at the mo.

Sorry for the ramble I just don't know what to do about it. I have arranged to have central heating put in though warm front so I do want to stay. Any ideas?

For mould you need spores, plenty of effective chemicals that inhibit spores...

purplegirluk1

I have cleaned it off more than once with a warm bleach and water solution, that is easy enough. My problem is how to get the landlord to fix the problem so it doesn't ruin my furniture and our health. It is very unpleasent and at the moment is not considered to be extreme enough to affect our health but if it is not dealt with it will.

PasturesNew

In the meantime, you could try to get a dehumidifier. As it's summer now you mgiht be able to find one virtually free in local ads, or free on freecycle. A dehumidifier would sort out the damp, which in turn would sort out some of the other problems... so you're not waiting on him to pull his finger out and before winter sets in again.

purplegirluk1

Sorry I forgot to mention he did supplyy us with a dehumidifier last year when the problem started, we rotate it between the two rooms with a problem. It is costing us a fortune though as we are on economy 7 because of the night storage heaters and it is too noisy to use at night.

Monks_habit

Speak to the Private Sector Housing Dept at the Council.

Fire_Fox

Is the damp caused by a problem with the drainpipe outside or condensation internally? How often do you simply ventilate the rooms? Are there any other rooms facing onto the same external wall that are damp or just the bedrooms? Do you sleep with the bedroom doors closed? Do you air dry any laundry indoors?

purplegirluk1

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Is the damp caused by a problem with the drainpipe outside or condensation internally? How often do you simply ventilate the rooms? Are there any other rooms facing onto the same external wall that are damp or just the bedrooms? Do you sleep with the bedroom doors closed? Do you air dry any laundry indoors?

It is the drainpipe outside I think, there is never condenstaion on the windows though the lack of constant ventilation probably doesn't help. I air one bedroom daily, all day of I can but the second bedroom window is so old it cannot easily be opened so it can't be as well ventilated. This is part of the reason he agreed to put tyhe new wondows in in the first place. The only other room that faces the same way is the bathroom which I open the window to every day after showering and leave open all day of poss. Yes we sleep with the doors closed most nights, I do leave my room open some nights but babys room is on the main part of the hall and the light/noise would keep him awake. No I odn't dry indoors, well I do in the winter but not in those rooms.

purplegirluk1

Monks_habit wrote: »

Speak to the Private Sector Housing Dept at the Council.

Thats who came out and looked at the damp two weeks ago. He said as it was low level he could not enforce anything but would write a letter with the suggestions.

Monks_habit

If a drain pipe serving the guttering is defective and it serves more than one property, talk again to the environmental health dept, they can serve notice on 2 or more properties for inadequate drainage.