black mould in rented house

alizee

Hi, i have a similar issue but i am the tenant!i saw this thread so i thought it would be pointless to start another thread. We have some mold in the en-suite and i realise that is because of condensation, unfortunately there's no heating in the bathroom and we leave the window open after each shower but it still grows! it's too cold to leave the window open 24/7 because it is an en suite and it would make our bedroom freezing cold! I have noticed a similar issue in the spare bedroom though! it does not have an en suite, no one is drying clothes in it and it's only on half of the wall (you can see a line, like a patch in the wall and it stops there) i will try and contact the letting agency but are they likely to help at all? my landlord is a nice guy but there is no way of contacting him personally.

janealb

I would suggest contacting the ladlord as soon as possible. Usually the landlords are responsilbe for solving these kind of problems. And they shouldn't be neglected cause humidity can also affect the furniture in the house.

sarahevie

It was a brand new boiler in Feb, a combi Vaillant one with 5 year warranty, came top of a which report. Cannot remember the model off the top of my head - but it comes with a super duper timer thing with settings so it's not that they don't have the option of more heating.

They could have it on low all day via the thermostat, they also have thermostatic radiator valves on all the rads to comply with HMO regs, it is more that these things are costly to run (the heating, the tumble drier etc). The tenant actually said to me that they couldn't afford to eat let alone have the heating on. (Whilst driving a brand new £20K car I should add).

The extractor is one that is linked to the lights so comes on automatically. I just think that it is a small internal bathroom (no windows) and they are having up to eight showers a day -there's only 4 supposed to be living there but like most student houses there's friends and boyfriends forever staying over.

Thanks to all for the comments. I'm going with the previous solution of industrial strength mould remover fungicide followed by sealing with mould resistant paint.

I will write about their obligations about heating and ventilation. I am loathe to try a dehumidifier as I doubt they would run it, I know they are only supposed to cost 2p an hour, plus they can be noisy.

BitterAndTwisted

Quite honestly, I think you should supply the dehumidifier in any case. After you've fixed the current damage and given them advice on exactly why they need to ventilate, heat and dehumidify if they choose not to use the dehumidifier then any consequential damage (more mould and the removal of same) will patently be because they are not living in a "tenant-like manner". Therefore putting right any additional damage will be their responsibility to pay for out of their deposit.

I think you need to put all of this in writing so they understand how and why they are contributing to the problem and what they need to do to prevent it. It will save a whole load of aggro if and when you need to make any deduction from their deposit at the end of the tenancy. Students who have never lived away from home before rarely understand that their own actions or lack of them are often at the root of their own problems in his respect.

Yorkie1

B&T has put it exactly.

You can only do so much to provide them with assistance and advice. If they then choose to live in a way which continues to exacerbate the situation, then that is their look-out and they must take the consequences.

olly300

sarahevie wrote: »

The tenant actually said to me that they couldn't afford to eat let alone have the heating on. (Whilst driving a brand new £20K car I should add).

Could easily be a company car or a gift from another member of their family.

Oddly some family richer members do give their younger relations expensive cars which they can't afford to run so after a year they sell them on.

Edited to say: And no I'm not in that camp but related and know people who have been given them.

sarahevie

Been round today with a print out off the council website about condensation mould.

Have bought the polycell mould remover, as it came recommended on another forum. Also bought the mouldtec dulux paint for afterwards. These are what were used previously.

All the council guidance suggested treating with a mould spray followed by a decent fungicide paint. Did the mould spray whilst I was there. Will go back to paint after I've done the mould spray a few times, as per instructions.

Will buy a dehumidifier but want to research a bit more, and will have to order one online most likely.

tbs624

Have you checked that the bathroom extractor fan is free from dust? If you have student Ts and they don't vaccum regularly it's easy for a build up of fluff to accumulate and affect its efficiency.


You mentioned that its an internal bathroom - you may want to check whether the fan complies with Building Regs. It may well have complied with the regs applicable at the time of installation but newer models are likely to give you a better result.

Screwfix etc sell dehumidifiers. Bear in mind that they too need to have their filter cleaned on a regular basis ( by the Ts) and that it's one more thing to get a PAT done on after you've had it for a while.

ahmjt

I had a similar situation. I was the tenant. We had mould growth in bathroom. I have a very good landlord. LL arranged a humidity-based extractor fan for the bathroom and made some repairs. The fan takes around 20W of electricity I think. Not sure exactly what sort of repairment was done. She also forwarded me council online information about mould/damp/condensation. The bathroom is fine after that. I also have a unibond humidity absorver (the one that takes those BIG tablets).

Living in a flat I find it very hard to not have condensation on windows. I do not know what to do with it. It is not possible to clean the windows every day. We try to keep the window open for some time every day to get fresh air. We have old storage heaters which do not work, so we use electric convection heaters. Bathroom has no heating. Both bathroom and kitchen has extractor fans. When cooking or using bath we use the fan. But during winter it is hard to keep windows open. With the heaters we keep the internal temperature to around 21C. We have vinyl floor, no carpet. Also have lots of dust problem (may be because of nearby rail line). My wife is asthmatic and both my wife and my daughter are allergic to dust. So not exactly sure if a dehumedifier is a good idea for us or not.

Why am I talking about all these? It is because the condensation on the windows help mould growth.

marywooyeah

we've had this too. I got a spray bottle and filled it half with bleach and half water - spray on the mould and scrub scrub scrub!

I got a "croc box" from wilkos - was about £2 - a green box with rocky things in it which soaks up the moisture in the air. Really handy, or you could just put a big bowl of salt in the room which does the same job.