Condensation in flat - rights as a tennant

Helsieboo

Just talked to housemate and he is prepared to buy a dehumidifier with me to pay him back for half when I have a regular income again. He is also prepared to clean the mould. I'm sounding terribly lazy, but I currently have a fairly serious injury to my wrist which is preventing me do an awful lot of day to day stuff - seriously, not being able to use a knife and fork properly is annoying. We're going to email the landlady and propose this as a plan of attack, cleaning the mould and getting a dehumidifier - does this sound reasonable and sensible?

eyeofthetyne

I own an apartment and have lived in flats for 10 years. I fully understand the problem of living in a flat - the condensation and smells from cooking, drying clothes, showers etc - but it is the responsibility of the person living there to ventilate the property. BOTH through the extractor fan and opening windows when you've had a shower - yes it means it is cold for a bit but it will stop you getting mould.

HappyMJ

rentergirl wrote: »

Drying laundry is perfectly usual, and flats must take account of it. Agree with the dehumdifiers, but add the coda that they can use up oodles of electricity. The vents must be installed: I have watched a presentation by a senior Environmental; Health Officer who stated that condensation is damp in law. If ther is so much that it's causing mould, it's damp and must be treated at source.

Laundry should never by dried indoors. The water has to go somewhere and it will condense on the walls. It is the tenants responsibility to reduce condensation as much as possible. The source is the damp washing drying and treating it requires drying it elsewhere.

They use a small amount of electricity...about 300W per hour but that 300W is added to the room as heat reducing the heating bill by about the same amount offsetting the cost and therefore not costing much more at all.

eyeofthetyne

HappyMJ wrote: »

Laundry should never by dried indoors. The water has to go somewhere and it will condense on the walls. It is the tenants responsibility to reduce condensation as much as possible. The source is the damp washing drying and treating it requires drying it elsewhere.

They use a small amount of electricity...about 300W per hour but that 300W is added to the room as heat reducing the heating bill by about the same amount offsetting the cost and therefore not costing much more at all.

I disagree - if you are able to leave a window open enough when the clothes are drying there should not be a problem. In apartments it is not always possible to dry clothes outside.

BitterAndTwisted

Helsieboo wrote: »

We're going to email the landlady and propose this as a plan of attack, cleaning the mould and getting a dehumidifier - does this sound reasonable and sensible?

It sounds very reasonable and sensible indeed. I would suggest that you email the landlady and suggest you go halves. That should make your landlady happy. I think you get dehumidifiers for about £100 at places like @rgos.

n.b. I see that Rentergirl is talking out of her fundament again. I do wish she would stop.

puddy

many people do not have outside space so drying laundry indoors is often the only way, how else do you expect people to dry their items?

another vote for a dehumidifier here. i used to live in a 2 bed flat with no proper hanging space outside, never had an ounce of problem with condensation or damp or whatever

moved to a 3 bed house and we use our utility room to dry washing. noticed water cascading down the internal walls of that room (its doored off so not part of the main house as it were). i cant stand the thought of damp and mould so we got a value argos dehumidifier and i would recommend it to anyone.

im not sure how much it costs, but we have it on from saturday to sunday night, more or less constantly. the washing dries in those 2 days in the winter (no heating in the laundry room).

in the summer we dont really need it as the room gets very warm, no condensation in the summer.

get one, they are fab for drying washing mega quick

Helsieboo

eyeofthetyne wrote: »

I own an apartment and have lived in flats for 10 years. I fully understand the problem of living in a flat - the condensation and smells from cooking, drying clothes, showers etc - but it is the responsibility of the person living there to ventilate the property. BOTH through the extractor fan and opening windows when you've had a shower - yes it means it is cold for a bit but it will stop you getting mould.

Agreed, but we do this and still have it. Apparently the building is very prone in general and all the outside walls in all flats have issues with it.

Going to suggest the cleaning and dehumidifier option and see what she has to say about it. She has been talking for a while about wanting to put the rent up, so I've got a feeling this might be the excuse she's been waiting for to get us out and increase rent, although I could be being a bit paranoid.

BigAunty

Here is a comprehensive document about damp and mould

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/pdf/Mould.pdf

A landlord can deduct from the deposit costs associated with damage caused by tenants and this includes that done by accident or through negligence, such as a failure to live in a tenant like manner and keep the property adequately heated and ventilated. They cannot charge betterment, and have to take into account the condition and age of the items/decor you have damaged.

I do not believe the landlord has any grounds to charge you the cost of remedying the problem, the full cost installation of ventilation.

Maestro.

Helsieboo wrote: »

Hi, yes there are, although the one in the kitchen has never worked. We have no mould in either of these rooms and we leave the window open in the kitchen when cooking.

condensation forms on cold surfaces. if the bedroom is the coldest room then the heat being created in the kitchen and other rooms will make its way through to the bedroom and condense.

Is the bedroom a south facing room (deprived of sunlight) and perhaps backing onto a forest or large garden? I have a similar situation in my flat where in winter the bedroom is noticeably damp but the rest of the property is bone dry. I think that mostly it is condensation gathering in the bedroom but like your situation it is possible there are some structural indications as well.

My solution so far has been to get a dehumidifer. Works wonders at keeping the air dry and it's easier to heat. Landlords have a habit of using delay tactics so don't be surprised if you get nowhere with them.

rentergirl: dehumidifiers do not use up a lot of electricity - pennies per day in fact. also, the dryer air will take less to heat and feels warmer so any loss through using one is more than gained back in comfort levels.

propertyman

1: Calm down... as the above posts show it is solvable, no point in getting unwell over it.:)

2: Run your clothes through an extra spin cycle