Just flippin' miserable

Fire_Fox

So why did you say the council won't do anything when they have said they will? Why would a sensible landlord kick you out if the flat was vacant for four years before, and the property is possibly not habitable now? He definitely couldn't legally re-let if the council have written to him about the condition so he'd have to return your deposit AND fix the place without rent coming in. Or he could keep you and fix the place with rent coming in. Good advice about the Section 21 notice to quit being invalid until the deposit is lodged, I'd forgotten that. :T

If I had £200 I would buy a dehumidifier as several people have advised. No paint will get rid of the water in the air nor stop water coming through the wall (if it is), you have to ventilate. If the air is dry there will be substantially less condensation regardless of the coldness of the wall. I have metal window frames that are icy cold in winter and I only use my heating if it snows. Despite this I have less mould that some of my neighbours because I ventilate the flat every day and turn the shower off when soaping up. When I don't the window glass actually looks like it has rained inside, I get puddles on the window sills! :eek: How long did you try the dehumidifier for and did you use one of the correct capacity for your property? Whilst there is damp air and rotting wood you have mould and bugs and damaged property. You don't have the legal right to make changes to the property without the landlord's written permission so you can't just paint and install skirting board.

Your £200 plus your deposit back plus a fine for not properly lodging your deposit would mean you could pay a couple of months rent up front or a larger deposit on a room in a shared house. There are landlords/ housemates who will accept people in your shoes, often it's a case of being up front. I've known house shares with a dog, lots of people quite like a part time pet especially hippy types. Shared houses found directly never run credit checks, it's generally letting agencies for flats and houses that do. Again, the council should rehouse you if you are legitimately given notice to quit. Are you eligible for any housing benefit BTW?

Fire_Fox

"The following is an extract of how much water vapour is produced:

General
Each person breathing – approx ½ litre a day
Paraffin Heaters – 2.5 to 5 litres a day or 5 litres of water from 5 litres of paraffin
Calor gas heaters – 5 litres of water to 1 kg of gas

Kitchen
Washing up – 1 litre a day
Washing clothes (if not in a washing machine) – 2 litres a day
Cooking per person – ½ lite per day

Bathroom
Clothes drying – 6 litre a day
Bathing/washing – 1 litre per day
The average family can produce between 7-14 litres of water per day."
http://www.irwellvalleyha.co.uk/content/1013/damp-and-condensation.aspx

*max*

Seriously, get Environmental Services to come round and have a look. Even if they don't write to your landlord, they will at least give you advice on how to deal with the problems, ie: dehumidifier, ventilation, whether it's worth it to be spending money on decorating/painting (which I honestly don't think it is!)...etc.

coinxoperated

I can not afford to run a de-humidifier.

The landlord isn't going to reduce the rent to allow me to do so.

I've already said EH have said there's not much that can do that won't p!ss off the landlord.

I don't believe my deposit was ever protecte as I had no notice of it being protected. Is there a website I can go on to see if it is?

I can not receive any benefit towards housing as I'm a single full time working person.

Maybe dumping the job an having a couple of sprogs will help

coinxoperated

Ventilation (properly!) is impossible.

The only door I have is a front door and two very small windows in the living room and one in the bedroom.

coinxoperated

And, although 'legally' I am not entitled to make changes....

The skirting boards were originally fitted in the bathroom. The maintenance guy ripped them out and just didn't bother replacing them.

As mentioned in my last post, there was never an inventory to say what colour walls were or what fixtures : fittings were in place.

BitterAndTwisted

You should be able to check online with the three deposit-protection schemes: DPS, TDS and MyDeposits

j.e.j.

Tbh, It sounds like it would cost a fortune to run a dehumidifier for the amount of time needed to sort the problem in OP's flat.

You COULD get back in touch with Environmental Health, but if they come round and actually deem the property unfit to live in, where does that leave the OP? Or, (more likely) they'll write to her landlord, who might then decide to evict her for the reasons she's given (the dog, etc..)

As I say, yes, there are things in place to protect tenants, in theory, but in practice tenants know that if they choose to complain they could end up homeless.

OP Do get in touch with Shelter. They are very aware of the kinds of problems you are facing and may be able to advise. Unfortunately many, many people are facing similar problems with rogue landlords letting out sub-standard properties.

shegirl

coinxoperated wrote: »

And, although 'legally' I am not entitled to make changes....

The skirting boards were originally fitted in the bathroom. The maintenance guy ripped them out and just didn't bother replacing them.

As mentioned in my last post, there was never an inventory to say what colour walls were or what fixtures : fittings were in place.

That doesn't mean you can just go and decorate someones property because you want to!The wall colours not being in the inventory means nadda.Seriously,don't do it!

coinxoperated

There is no way he could prove what colours the walls were when I moved in!

I'm painting and decorating next weekend. And as far as i'm concerned it's a hardly decorated property anyway, when I moved in the walls were only half painted with some gross lemon colour.

If you had read the previous posts correctly, there is absolutely no contract or anything stating I can't decorate, nor an inventory.

If you owned a property that had plaster falling off the walls and damp everywhere, I'm sure you would be pretty grateful someone made it look half decent.

I appriciate the feedback on my other posts, but feel so frustrated that the only real recommendations I've had is to run a de-humidifier which I have stated I can not afford.

I'm literally left with no option.