Mould in Rented Flat Causes Furniture Damage- Compensation?

Alarae

This will be a long post unfortunately on behalf of my sister who is at her wit's end, and needs advice on how to proceed.

My sister lives with her partner and 10 month old child in a ground floor, two bed flat. Over the last six months (possibly longer' I'm not sure entirely) there has been a mould problem. Back in April they had their 6 month inspection with the owner of the estate agent who manages the property (small, independent firm) and after seeing the state of the property, recommended they move due to the mould issues.

After they complained about the issues the estate agents seem to be dragging their heels. The mould has ruined furniture and clothing, which had to be replaced, and is now coming up through the floorboards causing them to bow, which is dangerous with a young child in the house. Initially on the phone the estate agent said they would cover furniture and damage costs and give compensation. My sister got quotes for furniture pieces from IKEA- so not even expensive- but then the estate agent turned around and offered £200, which would barely cover the costs of even half of the furniture, ignoring the clothes. This has since been rescinded, as the landlord doesn't want to pay it. They also said they would carpet the flat but now will not due to cost.

The landlord does not want to deal with my sister at all; its all being handled through the estate agent.

An assessor has viewed the place and stated it was at over 80% humidity apparently over 60% is viewed as high. They have been told they can no longer dry their clothes in the house so have to go over to parents houses or to the launderette which is costing them money, as there is no tumbledryer in the house. Apparently one of these was promised as well but surprise surprise, nothing has appeared. They have since had to buy one themselves.

The only work that has been done is to install a cheap heater in the kitchen and knock a few holes in the wall and grate over them. However this issue hasn't been resolved as my sister purchased some flour which went in the kitchen cupboard but within 8 days was covered in mould.

With such a young child she is really worried about his health more than anything, but she is beginning to get really stressed about it all and I'm starting to worry about the effect it is having on her. She has mentioned possibly going to the press or getting environmental health involved since any bad publicity could possibly end this firm, as it is only small, but doesn't really want to go this route.

Does anyone have any advice I can pass on? If any other info is needed I can ask her. She is on a rolling tenancy at the moment, so can leave at 1 month notice, but she is concerned about the costly damage done to her things.

dancingfairy

Environmental Health would be the obvious 'official' route. If she doesn't want to cause them problems then the first thing would be to give her notice and move before it causes even more damage.
She could presumably claim on her contents insurance?
She could try a small claims action against the company. How much proof does she have of the damage? Has copious photos? Notes of each and every telephone call? Copies of letters to the landlord? Although I presume she'd have to prove that they were somehow negligent and that she had tried to resolve the problems although I'm not too sure on this.
Has she tried speaking to her local CAB at all?
df

Twiggy_34

As a landlady myself of a property with (hopefully temporary) humidity issues, even I would advise going down the environmental health route. If this really isn't what they want to do then they should look for alternative accommodation.

However, there are 2 sides to every story. It sounds like they've been drying clothing on airer's indoors, which I know first hand from my first rented ground floor flat is an invitation for mould throughout the flat. A lot of rental agreements have clauses which leave responsibility to the tenant to not encourage problems like this by air drying laundry indoors and/or not heating or airing the property appropriately/sufficiently (at least ours does for the property we now let).

That said, we identified an issue with the house we inherited when we were doing it up to let out; at times of heavy rainfall moisture was literally seeping in through the front room wall. The tenants were warned of this before they even agreed to rent the house, and knew we were looking to resolve it. Unfortunately it took 6 months due to issues with the neighbour and access, but we did get there. Some items have been mould damaged but, frankly, they were aware of the problem and yet still hung pictures on that wall etc, so we haven't offered to cover the cost of replacing them. However, I did go out and get them a dehumidifier as soon as the building work had been done to help speed up the recovery process, and even gave them some cash to cover the cost of running it. Sod's law is that around the same time the roof has decided to develop some sort of leak (since the bad gales a few weeks back). It took a while for them to discover the problem, which naturally presented itself in one of the bedrooms, but we're in the process of sorting out quotes to get it fixed ASAP. It's our responsibility no matter what and I want it sorted as quickly as possible, any anyway, it's in our best interests to keep our tenants happy and make them want to stay in the property for as long as possible! In the meantime our tenants have been very sensible and have advised us they have moved everything away from the affected corner to prevent the risk of mould damage while we wait for the problem to be fixed, and I believe that anything affected by mould prior to moving it has cleaned up well.

To summarise - I think there has to be a bit of give and take in such scenario's. Maybe I missed something, but why didn't your sister notify someone of the problem before it got so bad? If they then had failed to take action and her belongings got damaged, it seems to me that she might have more of a leg to stand on regarding compensation. However, now that she has made them aware of the problem, if it's due to more than things like air-drying clothes, it sounds like she needs some additional support and agree with dancingfairy that citizen's advice might be a good place to start. Good luck!

Alarae

dancingfairy wrote: »

Environmental Health would be the obvious 'official' route. If she doesn't want to cause them problems then the first thing would be to give her notice and move before it causes even more damage.
She could presumably claim on her contents insurance?
She could try a small claims action against the company. How much proof does she have of the damage? Has copious photos? Notes of each and every telephone call? Copies of letters to the landlord? Although I presume she'd have to prove that they were somehow negligent and that she had tried to resolve the problems although I'm not too sure on this.
Has she tried speaking to her local CAB at all?
df

No contents insurance, hence the mess

They have taken time stamped photos, but I'm not sure how far back they go. I think she has emails between herself and the estate agent. I'm sure she could contact her mobile provider and get times of calls made.

I suggested CAB but I'm not sure if there is one nearby she can get to.

Twiggy_34

Alarae wrote: »

I suggested CAB but I'm not sure if there is one nearby she can get to.

Check online, some of them offer email support, I know my local one does which I've used in the past

Alarae

Twiggy_34 wrote: »

As a landlady myself of a property with (hopefully temporary) humidity issues, even I would advise going down the environmental health route. If this really isn't what they want to do then they should look for alternative accommodation.

However, there are 2 sides to every story. It sounds like they've been drying clothing on airer's indoors, which I know first hand from my first rented ground floor flat is an invitation for mould throughout the flat. A lot of rental agreements have clauses which leave responsibility to the tenant to not encourage problems like this by air drying laundry indoors and/or not heating or airing the property appropriately/sufficiently (at least ours does for the property we now let).

That said, we identified an issue with the house we inherited when we were doing it up to let out; at times of heavy rainfall moisture was literally seeping in through the front room wall. The tenants were warned of this before they even agreed to rent the house, and knew we were looking to resolve it. Unfortunately it took 6 months due to issues with the neighbour and access, but we did get there. Some items have been mould damaged but, frankly, they were aware of the problem and yet still hung pictures on that wall etc, so we haven't offered to cover the cost of replacing them. However, I did go out and get them a dehumidifier as soon as the building work had been done to help speed up the recovery process, and even gave them some cash to cover the cost of running it. Sod's law is that around the same time the roof has decided to develop some sort of leak (since the bad gales a few weeks back). It took a while for them to discover the problem, which naturally presented itself in one of the bedrooms, but we're in the process of sorting out quotes to get it fixed ASAP. It's our responsibility no matter what and I want it sorted as quickly as possible, any anyway, it's in our best interests to keep our tenants happy and make them want to stay in the property for as long as possible! In the meantime our tenants have been very sensible and have advised us they have moved everything away from the affected corner to prevent the risk of mould damage while we wait for the problem to be fixed, and I believe that anything affected by mould prior to moving it has cleaned up well.

To summarise - I think there has to be a bit of give and take in such scenario's. Maybe I missed something, but why didn't your sister notify someone of the problem before it got so bad? If they then had failed to take action and her belongings got damaged, it seems to me that she might have more of a leg to stand on regarding compensation. However, now that she has made them aware of the problem, if it's due to more than things like air-drying clothes, it sounds like she needs some additional support and agree with dancingfairy that citizen's advice might be a good place to start. Good luck!

Your post is extremely helpful, thank you! The issue may have been amplified via drying clothes indoors but it is not the main cause; that is down to poor ventilation in the house and has been identified by a builder/surveyor. However my sister had no choice but to dry clothes indoors as there is no tumbledryer in the flat.

She made them well aware of the issues a long time ago, its just taken extremely long for the estate agents to do anything about it! Even now what they have done isn't exactly helpful. I think the damage occurred on the back of the furniture items, so wasn't seen for a long time until it had got very bad, thus being unsalvagable.

I will reinforce the idea for her to get environmental health involved and go talk to CAB. I just didn't know if there was another alternative remedy via statute or health and safety.

Thank you :A

Twiggy_34

Alarae wrote: »

Your post is extremely helpful, thank you! The issue may have been amplified via drying clothes indoors but it is not the main cause; that is down to poor ventilation in the house and has been identified by a builder/surveyor. However my sister had no choice but to dry clothes indoors as there is no tumbledryer in the flat.

She made them well aware of the issues a long time ago, its just taken extremely long for the estate agents to do anything about it! Even now what they have done isn't exactly helpful. I think the damage occurred on the back of the furniture items, so wasn't seen for a long time until it had got very bad, thus being unsalvagable.

I will reinforce the idea for her to get environmental health involved and go talk to CAB. I just didn't know if there was another alternative remedy via statute or health and safety.

Thank you :A

No problem sorry it was a bit long-winded!

I take it the flat is fully furnished? Is there space for a tumble dryer? Is there any outdoor space? Unfortunately I'm not sure that not being provided with a tumble dryer makes a good defence as no landlord would be under any obligation to provide one regardless of the circumstances. We let our property unfurnished, but instead of getting rid of the tumble dryer that had been there gave them first refusal on it and they did want it, but that was luck rather than judgement on both parts and merely saved us hassle trying to get it moved/sold or whatever!

I hope she manages to make progress with them soon!

Alarae

Twiggy_34 wrote: »

No problem sorry it was a bit long-winded!

I take it the flat is fully furnished? Is there space for a tumble dryer? Is there any outdoor space? Unfortunately I'm not sure that not being provided with a tumble dryer makes a good defence as no landlord would be under any obligation to provide one regardless of the circumstances. We let our property unfurnished, but instead of getting rid of the tumble dryer that had been there gave them first refusal on it and they did want it, but that was luck rather than judgement on both parts and merely saved us hassle trying to get it moved/sold or whatever!

I hope she manages to make progress with them soon!

Flat was unfurnished other than white goods. I understand there would be no obligation to provide a tumble dryer but surely it would be reasonable to request one as they can no longer dry clothes in the house?

I believe there is room for one (or must be anyway!) Since they have ordered one. I think their plan was to either get the landlord to pay for it, since apparently they were offering to buy them one anyway, or simply take it with them when they move. The just can't go without one unfortunately as they can't really be taking their washing to parents/launderette all the time.

societys_child

Alarae

it was at over 80% humidity . . . . . . They have been told they can no longer dry their clothes in the house

:huh: Wonder what could cause such high humidity . . .

anselld

Sounds largely self inflicted.
Drying clothes indoors - many tenancy agreements forbid it for exactly this reason.
Lack of ventilation - thats what windows are for; you need to use them every day.
Heating hasn't been mentioned, but trying not to use it in order to save energy is usually another factor.

The LL would be responsible for any building defects but there are many buildings which rely on windows to provide adequate ventilation. Vents, extractors, etc can be added to improve matters but they are not mandatory.

Alarae

Windows are open throughout the day, and the heating is on all the time as there is a young child in the house (the large electric bill is testament to that!).

Probably my lack of knowledge on the matter, but surely it would be reasonable for them to dry clothes in the house with windows open/heaters on considering they have no tumble dryer?