Mould discovered after previous owner flooded bathroom

lauralulu

Hi,

As briefly as possible- my partner bought a new home for us, almost a year ago now, that had been empty for two years prior as previous occupant died. It has always had a funny smell, which I have been trying to get to the bottom of. Well, finally we discovered- a lot of black mould behind the bath panel. Turns out the lady living there before died in the shower with the water running, it sprayed all over the tiles and water ran down, flooding the bathroom.

My partner has cleaned up the mould as best he can but we have had to rip up carpets and flooring, it will be an expensive fix.

Just wondering, if there is any way we can get some sort of compensation? The man who sold us the house never told us about the flood, the surveyor didn't know so didn't find the mould... it's looking like we're going to have to cough up a LOT of money to fix this so I wanted to see if there was any way we could get financial assistance on this. I'm doubting it, but thought it worth the ask.

Thanks for any advice or help in the right direction,

Laura

phill99

2 things:
1) You can't be certain that the mould was caused in the way you describe.
2) 'Caveat Emptor' or 'Buyer Beware' ie its up to you as the purchaser to make appropriate enquiries and satisfy your self that the property is sound etc, not the other way round.

Speak to your solicitor and he will tell you that you have no chance.

lauralulu

Ok, as I suspected.

Widelats

Be careful with that black mould, some kinds of black mould are toxic, i discovered this when i moved into a property and the smell was musty in there, its only when the tenant above me was hammering his floor that the ceiling in my bathroom fell in it was rotten to the core, there was even creamy coloured white fungus growing out of the floor boards above, lots of black mould there too, it was the type associated with sick buildings where people get "sick building syndrome" it is because of black mould releasing toxins and it truly makes people ill.

If it is this kind of mould then you have bought a "sick" building and they can be condemned by environmental health. The mould looks wet and shiny, not like regular black mould that looks dry. If you feel sick, have headaches and breathing difficulty i would really ask environmental health to check it out.

CharlieBilly

You have 0 chance of getting anything.

Your best bet is to clean mould with a mould killer or bleach and let air get to it for a few days or more if you can. You can get paint to help prevent mould again although it looks like you might not need that

Sometimes mould can be caused by inadequate ventilation or other problems like guttering blocked and or bricks/pointing need attention

nomoneytoday

Shouldn't the survey have reasonably picked something up?
You certainly can't go after the seller IMHO

phill99

nomoneytoday wrote: »

Shouldn't the survey have reasonably picked something up?

Highly unlikely. Bearing in mind the OP is a year on from the purchase and it would appear now that the smell has become a problem. So if there was no smell when the survey was undertaken, then how could the surveyor have 'picked something up'?

Additionally, the surveyor will not move furniture, take up carpets or remove bath panels. That is in the clauses of the survey.