renting a house with rising damp

dannyjebb

Hi, we have rented a terraced house for the last year n a bit. Before xmas we renewed the tenancy for another 12 months but have noticed recently in the living room there is quite alot of rising damp on 3 of the 4 walls. It is about 2 foot high on the walls. Also the wall net to the window in the back room is quite damp. We have told the landlord who we have a good relationship with and he said he knew about it we have an inspection tomorrow by the estate agency so are going to mention it to them. My mum has said we should ask for a reduction in rent, are we entitled to this as we have had to have the heating on nearly all day everyday recently to try and dry it out abit. I dont want any of us or our pets to start getting ill from this.

Thanks for any advice.

Danny

G_M

Do you know what is causing the 'rising damp'? OK - I know you're not experts, and yes, it's the LL's responsibility, but the most common causes are either soil/rubbish etc piled up against the wall outside or leaking/blocked drainpipes or similar.

Or even an outside tap that froze and split in the winter which has been leaking down the wall ever since!

Have you been round the outside of the house to take a look?

These are relatively easy/cheap to remedy and if it IS obviously one of these, just ask the LL to get them fixed.

True 'rising damp' ie a failed damp proof course and damp rising up the brickwork from the ground is really very rare.

PasturesNew

What G_M said, some sources are easy to spot.

In the interim, pop out and buy yourself a dehumidifier £70-100 tops, electric one with a shut off.

digitalphase

We have the same problem with damp in our kitchen. It was confirmed that the cause was the leaky troughing which our LL failed to fix for 6 months (it was leaking before we moved in) and also that the drain outside is too close to the wall, so water splashed up the back soaking the wall.

Our LL has been informed that one wall needs replacing and the other heavily repointing. However he has done neither, and has no intention of doing so. Instead he has chosen to invoke our break clause and end our agreement. We want to move anyway, as this is just one in a long list of problems, so not incredibly put out, except that we need to be out 2 weeks before our baby is due.

So, basically, even though it is in the contract and all websites on tenancy say that the landlord is responsible for repairing structural damage, we as tenants do not seem to have any rights.

I sincerely hope that your landlord does sort this out for you, and is more reasonable than our landlord.

paul1964_2

dannyjebb wrote: »

...... quite alot of rising damp on 3 of the 4 walls. It is about 2 foot high on the walls. Also the wall net to the window in the back room is quite damp.......

If you have damp rising to 2ft along the length of all 4 of these walls, I doubt whether it is a simple problem to fix.

As G_M says, modern DPCs rarely fail. However, if you live in an older house, it may have been built without an effective DPC.

Alternatively, the DPC could have become bridged, eg if the level of the ground next to the wall has been raised (drive, path, etc) or the wall has been externally rendered. Or the cavity between the walls could have become blocked.

We have told the landlord who we have a good relationship with and he said he knew about it

If your LL already knew about this, but you have only just become aware of it, I would guess that he has already tried to get it fixed. Were the walls newly plastered when you moved in? or can you see/feel a line about a metre up the walls where they have been partially plastered? Some people try to replaster without attending to the underlying problem.

If I were you, I would ask the LL to get a damp specialist to have a look. Living in a damp house can increase the likelihood of developing a respiratory illness.

Soniclord

I had the problem of rising damp in a house I used to rent and it was very bad. I had to move in the end because the walls were wet to the touch all the way round the downstairs living room walls, the area of carpet where the sofa's 'feet' sat was wet underneath. The walls literally needed the sand/salt (that's all I can describe it as anyway, but I'm sure there is another name for it) knocking off the wall and they needed sanding down and repainting at least once a month.

The landlord tried to have cavity wall insulation put in but the house was on a single bricked house so they couldn't do it. So his next step was to have a fan installed in the attic which was a 3 speed fan designed to circulate air around the house. It didn't work! The damp just got worse because it made the landing area upstairs VERY cold and caused more dampness on the upstairs bedroom walls.

Loved the house but had to get out of there as it was not going to be a quick fix and frankly the landlord didn't give a !!!!. He just wanted his £475 a month rent and that was it. Funnily enough the same house has been empty for at least a year and is still up for rent on a well known agencies website! They tried increasing the rent to £495 when it became empty had no takers, they then reduced it to £450 (down from the £475 we paid) and still no takers. They now have it up for sale! And I seriously doubt it will sell.

dannyjebb

G_M wrote: »

Do you know what is causing the 'rising damp'? OK - I know you're not experts, and yes, it's the LL's responsibility, but the most common causes are either soil/rubbish etc piled up against the wall outside or leaking/blocked drainpipes or similar.

Or even an outside tap that froze and split in the winter which has been leaking down the wall ever since!

Have you been round the outside of the house to take a look?

These are relatively easy/cheap to remedy and if it IS obviously one of these, just ask the LL to get them fixed.

True 'rising damp' ie a failed damp proof course and damp rising up the brickwork from the ground is really very rare.

the damp is on all the walls down stairs and 2 of them are the walls connected to next door either side, my dad has been round and looked (he is a builder) and says its a pretty messy job to sort out, As the house is quite old it would have been built without a damproof course. We wil let the agency know today and see what happens, I was just wondering if we are within our rights to ask for a reduction in rent until this is sorted out and if the LL wont sort it out are we within our rights to end the tenancy agreement?

Thanks

digitalphase

dannyjebb wrote: »

We wil let the agency know today and see what happens, I was just wondering if we are within our rights to ask for a reduction in rent until this is sorted out and if the LL wont sort it out are we within our rights to end the tenancy agreement?

Thanks

No, not according to the CAB. Our house is old too, early 19th century.

MsHoarder

You can always ask for rent reductions/early end of tenancy agreement. Your landlord doesn't have to grant them though.

If you accompany this with that you are concerned about your health he may go for the less risky option of having you out of the house, but only ask to that level if you are genuinely ready to move.

madeupname1

digitalphase wrote: »

Instead he has chosen to invoke our break clause and end our agreement.

To really cure damp in the walls which is coming through the plasterwork, it can be necessary to remove the plaster work to the bricks to allow them to dry out (which in turn can take weeks / months). If he had undertaken this work whilst you were still in the property, it would not have been pleasant ...

wrightk

sounds so much like our old rented property....

if your house is so old that it doesnt have a DPC then get out and get out fast.

Dehumidifiers will do nothing to rising damp that high and extensive, there is obviously an external problem with the render, guttering or something else. trust me we tried this for a year.
Your landlord is going to be unlikely to agree to any rent reductions, or repair as this will run into 0000's for damp proof coursing.
If it was on one wall in the house only then might be worth persuing for investigation.. id get out if you can