Horrible damp and mould!

Willow92

Hey, just wanted a bit of advice on something...

My fiance rents a studio flat in Wolverhampton for £300 a month (which I think is far too much since there's so much going wrong with it!) and now it's getting colder there's a mouldy situation going on...

In the flat there seems to be no air vents in the walls or anything, not even an extractor fan in the bathroom so there's nowhere for excess moisture to go! The bathroom window is constantly left open even when it's freezing cold but it doesn't seem to shift the condensation which seems to be on everything, even the loo roll feels damp. Water is dripping off the ceiling and now there's loads of black mould up there too. We leave the bathroom door open and put the halogen heater on for most of the day to see if it will dry out but it doesn't seem to do a lot.

There seems to be no insulation on the outside walls which are just brick so it gets really cold. Apparently there was a mould problem last winter and the landlord just got some men in to wipe it off and paint over it (with a huuuuuge tub of cheap magnolia paint which rubs off onto anything that touches the wall).

I googled extractor fans and found a basic one for £40, not a lot really considering how much it would save on fancy anti mould treatments etc. The landlord seems to just pop round every couple of months to shout at everyone for not paying rent (he doesn't come round to collect it that often!) and doesn't really care if we're unhappy with the place, he just wants his money.

Apart from pestering the landlord to get his men in to fit an extractor fan in the bathroom is there anything else we can do in the meantime? My fiance had a cheque stolen a few months ago which was meant to be for the rent so he's a couple of months behind with rent and the landlord uses this as an excuse to shout at him all the time.

I'm sick of wiping the drippy tiles all the time. Please help!

Willow.

Willow92

flippin' 'eck! I can whinge for England! Sorry for the long post everyone :P

freyanneke_2

Just one phone call to environmental health should do the trick. Just phone the local council they will refer you to the right department. It does help if the other tenants are sticking together.
It sounds like a depressing place to live, is it possible for your fiance to move or for you two to find something together? Good luck with sorting this.

Willow92

We can't move until he's paid off the money he owes so he's stuck there for a while longer

totalsolutions

Cancel the cheque then ?

Loanranger

A dehumidifier will help to extract the water from the atmosphere. That's not going to solve the source of the problem which the landlord needs to address pronto but it may help to alleviate the symptoms. Sorry I can't offer any advice on how you solve the problem of the landlord.

arunadasi

This isn't going to help too much for the all-round problem but I'd like to recommend HG Mould Spray. I've been battling black mould on my bathroom tiles for weeks now, tried everything, and then I saw the ad on TV. I bought it at Lakeland yesterday, tried it out -- and today ALL the mould has gone! It's just fantastic.

Willow92

What cheque? The cheque thing was in the summer and that's been found and paid. Someone had stolen his post and used his identity to cash it. The police were useless, still haven't told us who it is. They know, they just can't be bothered to ring and tell us. So he's behind on his payments but he's paying £60 extra a month until he's paid it all off.

Willow92

How much is the spray? Do they sell it anywhere else like ASDA?

chika

You can also get a spray called astonish mold spray from most pound shops. It is really good and sorted out mould in my old flat. It obviously doesn't tackle the cause but makes it seem a lot better and cleaner. Also I agree with calling environmental health. Does anyone in the house have asthma? A quick word with their GP may help too.

Willow92

Noone has asthma. I'll see if there are any sprays up town. If we wipe the bathroom ceiling the paint smudges so we don't want to breathe in mould spores and paint fumes