Damp basement

suejlucky

My daughter has signed a rental agreement on an apartment for 6 months. 2 months into the agreement she has noticed that in the basement room (windowless) where she stores her clothes, there are signs of mold on bags, shoes and some of her clothes. It is clearly a damp basement and I'm wondering if she can get out of the contract on the basis that it is uninhabitable and a health hazard. Please advise!

FireWyrm

Short answer is no.

Cellars or basements are not living quarters unless specifically reverse engineered to be. Either put a heater down there, or move her clothes out. You cant just end a tenancy in this way.

Tirian

Should basically always assume that cellars are going to be damp. We had high hopes of what we might be able to store in the basement of the place we just bought, but are having to readjust that quickly on the basis of the mould we found growing on things down there after only a few days. Oh, and the slugs ...

You can make do though - put the clothes in a airtight containers and they should be fine. Perhaps a dehumidifier might help?

couponqueen123

she cant end contract but landlord will be responsible to do something about it get health and safety around do a report and then landlord can get someone in

ILW

Was the basement described as part of the living space.

HB58

My son and his gf moved into the basement rooms of a house shared wth friends (advertised by LL as living space, with a bathroom down there too). It was so damp that we used to refer to it as 'the swimming pool'. Local environmental health got some remedial work done and said that the place was now liveable - as long as windows and internal doors were kept open 24/7! Son's asthma was exacerbated and gf's photographic equipment was suffering so they walked away from the contract. Threats of court action followed and LL (who also owned the letting agency) finally accepted partial payment of what was left outstanding.

So the answer is, 'no' you cannot just default on the rent. There are sometimes ways out, but not without a great deal of stress and some finanacial penalty.

suejlucky

ILW wrote: »

Was the basement described as part of the living space.

Yes it was. The living areas and one bedroom are on the ground floor and then downstairs has a further bedroom (with window for some ventilation) as well as 2 bathrooms.

theartfullodger

Suggest tenant contacts landlord in a calm, polite manner (email or letter..) noting the mould (mould not mold..) problems and possible related damage to goods & health risk and asking if she might be released from the tenancy or would she be better advised to contact local council's "Environmental health" department.

That may "prompt" landlord to sort problem out (heaters, ventilation, de-humidifers..) or agree to early surrender to avoid a fight with council..



Cheers!

PS I;m sure it ain;t the case but sadly some persons keep all the bleedin' windows shut, the double-glazing trickle-vents closed, dry clothes on racks rather than using an externally vented tumble-dryer etc etc etc etc etc and then wonder why there is condensation & mould.. Other persons have been known to have leaks, bleedin' obvious, in't bathroom, never advise the bleedin' landlord and then wonder why there's a problem... Condensation will usually end up sinking to the lowest point (damp, cold air is heavier.. and cold rooms like cellars get more condensation - see you school physics course... ) Sigh!!

sleepless_saver

suejlewis wrote: »

Yes it was. The living areas and one bedroom are on the ground floor and then downstairs has a further bedroom (with window for some ventilation) as well as 2 bathrooms.

So the basement room in question, which you said has no windows, was not described as part of the living space?

Are there any problems with the basement bedroom and bathrooms?

tbs624

I agree with Artful. If the LL is unhelpful, and the damp/condensation/ whatever needs dealing with then next step would be to ask the Council's EHO to arrange for the property to be assessed under HHSRS ( Housing Health and Safety Rating System).

Storing anything in an unventilated lower level room is always going to cause problems.

suejlucky

Yes it was described as part of the living space - accommodation over 2 floors - ground and below (can't remember specific description of the lower floor though). The floor space below is about 1/2 the size of the floorspace above. The bathrooms are very cold as is the second bedroom which has the window but mould has only been found in windowless room which is the size of a fairly large single bedroom - but not advertised as such. It is set up as a large walk-in wardrobe with cubicles and hanging space along one entire wall.

Thanks for everyone's help.