How to protect myself against tenant suing for mould

Okydoky25

princeofpounds wrote: »

most landlords would hide it, get someone in, then blame it on 'lifestyle' when it re-appears and charge the tenant's deposit to fix it.

just joking. a little.

Must be referring to my landlord

nick12

twink1108 wrote: »

Can I just clarify that I am not an irresponsible landlord hoping to blame someone else or leave it for that matter - if I find out that it is fixable fairly easily, then I will be resolving the problem as soon as I can. As previously mentioned though, I am in a situation where I need to get a tenant in ASAP, and this may mean having someone move in before it has been fixed.

Sorry but you are irresponsible by definition because you have a responsibility to provide safe and habitable accommodation for your tenants and you are investigating ways to avoid these responsibilities (while still earning income from the property).

I sympathise if this puts you into financial difficulty but the fact you are dependant on the income isn't justification for getting tenants in when there is a problem with the property that may impact on their health.

Investing in residential property is not risk free I'm afraid.

twink1108

Thank you to all the helpful, knowledge people for your comments G_M for one, your posts are always helpful, thank you.

For those if you who find me discusting, irresponsible, disgraceful etc etc, and the smart !!!!!! who just seem to lurk on these forums all day waiting to pounce, you should feel like idiots, when I explain the rest of the story.. Not that I actually have explain myself.

I only have one property, not multiple and this particular property was bought with a view to my daughter moving in in a few years, and has been done up to a high standard, I have over spent on it, and it will probably end up getting trashed by a tennent before a tennent has even seen any mould.

The electrics that a qualified electrician said didn't need changing, as I'd still get a certificate, I still had changed just in case, and had the whole flat updated, due to the fact that it would be rented out. Paid more for the bathroom floor, to make it a non slip floor, new carpets are to go down as the ones there didn't clean up to my standard, as I' wouldnt live there myself with them smelling and stained, so wouldn't expect someone else would want to..etc etc etc, hence, I have now run out if money and being if ignorant to the types if mould, thought I could just wash it off

Apparantly it's not a concern according to my surveyor who I emailed today, and he just reccoments not putting things against the wall, and keeping it well ventilated..because I don't know that much about it..( not because I'm a con person) I wanted to be sure that I told a tennent and they were aware it was there and to tell me if it got worse,I am new to this and don't know where I stand, and often over worry myself over nothing. That's why I wanted something signed to say they had been told and that it was there. As most people wouldn't worry about something almost non existant on the wall, and would be happy to be told and keep an eye out, knowing that it is being delt with. I'm just being over cautious to protect myself and make sure my tennent knows and agrees to things before they sign up.

I would rather sell, Than out a tennent or my daughter at risk, and a buyer will learn about it from their survey. My surveyor referred to it as slight condensation. But I am a bit concerned Incase he has missed rising damp.

ognum

twink1108 wrote: »

Thank you to all the helpful, knowledge people for your comments G_M for one, your posts are always helpful, thank you.

For those if you who find me discusting, irresponsible, disgraceful etc etc, and the smart !!!!!! who just seem to lurk on these forums all day waiting to pounce, you should feel like idiots, when I explain the rest of the story.. Not that I actually have explain myself.

I only have one property, not multiple and this particular property was bought with a view to my daughter moving in in a few years, and has been done up to a high standard, I have over spent on it, and it will probably end up getting trashed by a tennent before a tennent has even seen any mould.

The electrics that a qualified electrician said didn't need changing, as I'd still get a certificate, I still had changed just in case, and had the whole flat updated, due to the fact that it would be rented out. Paid more for the bathroom floor, to make it a non slip floor, new carpets are to go down as the ones there didn't clean up to my standard, as I' wouldnt live there myself with them smelling and stained, so wouldn't expect someone else would want to..etc etc etc, hence, I have now run out if money and being if ignorant to the types if mould, thought I could just wash it off

Apparantly it's not a concern according to my surveyor who I emailed today, and he just reccoments not putting things against the wall, and keeping it well ventilated..because I don't know that much about it..( not because I'm a con person) I wanted to be sure that I told a tennent and they were aware it was there and to tell me if it got worse,I am new to this and don't know where I stand, and often over worry myself over nothing. That's why I wanted something signed to say they had been told and that it was there. As most people wouldn't worry about something almost non existant on the wall, and would be happy to be told and keep an eye out, knowing that it is being delt with. I'm just being over cautious to protect myself and make sure my tennent knows and agrees to things before they sign up.

I would rather sell, Than out a tennent or my daughter at risk, and a buyer will learn about it from their survey. My surveyor referred to it as slight condensation. But I am a bit concerned Incase he has missed rising damp.

Twink thanks for this update, it is good to be conscise when you post but sadly your simple post led many, including me up the wrong path. Sorry for that!

Consider putting in a dehumidifier to help dry the atmosphere in that room, have a talk with a tenant about airing the room.

If you are going to be a landlord even for a short time then you are running a buisness and you need to treat it as such. good luck!

Jabberwk

Dear twink1108,
It's nice that you're planning to be honest with your tenant and that you appreciate mould might be quite a big issue. You seem to be attempting to be a decent landlord, so thank you. I'm afraid mould in rented accommodation is quite a common and painful issue, which may be why you are finding people responding quite aggressively. Our letting agency wasn't honest with us about the mould that the previous tenants had experienced and we had to throw out a lot of ruined clothing and spend £70 dry-cleaning a lot more, not to mention countless loads of laundry, a lot of scrubbing and a lot of chaos trying to dry things out in the rest of the flat because of the white (hard to spot on a white wall) mould that got behind and into our clothes rail, bookcase, and trunk of paperwork. I would be a little wary of being told it will be fine if you keep things well ventilated and not put things against the wall. This advice was passed to us by our landlady after the first mould disaster. We have yet to discover how to keep things well ventilated in winter, when it is too cold to open windows. We can't afford to run the heating non-stop purely to tackle the mould. We have lost half the floorspace in our bedroom because we have moved all the furniture away from the 2 external walls, and the mould is still a major issue. We need to clean it off the walls at least every 2 weeks, despite using special anti-mould cleaner, and purchasing dehumidifiers. Our lease includes a clause about keeping the room ventilated and removing condensation from windows, so you could include something like that to help ensure the tenants aren't making the issue worse, but in our case it hasn't helped much. As a tenant, the best way to keep me on your side would be to be honest about it, ask me to monitor it and tell you if it becomes an issue, and, if it does (it may not), do whatever you can to fix it or maybe offer a slight discount in the rent (if it becomes an issue i mean, not from the start). It may turn out to not be an issue. We had some mould in the previous place we rented but it was minimal and didn't impact us. In this place it's a major problem. Unfortunately you can't really tell until some time has passed and someone has been living there for a while.

GwylimT

At the end of the day, unless you yourself are willing to live in a mouldy home, how you can expect a tenant to do the same? Do you really thing if you tell a prospective tenant the house has mould they are going to sign up to rent that home?

As a landlord you are running a business, until your business is suitably set up, e.g. mould free, you need to accept for the time being you will lose money. Every landlord should have adequate funding set aside to pay their mortgage when they do not have tenants in their property.

thequant

Good landlord or Bad landlord, you need to accept that you can't pass on the consequences of your bad purchase and damage the health of a fellow human being.


As others have said, letting a property is a business, business involves risk and making mistakes. You have made your first one, how you respond to it will determine in the long run whether you are a good or bad landlord.


good luck both to you and your future tenants

Tombola591

Some tenants would probably accept the mould/damp if you offered a reduced rent. Especially if you're in an area with high rents.

I once rented a place with damp problems in one of the bedrooms. The landlord acknowledged that there was damp. It wasn't fixed straight away (although it was eventually) but we took the place as the rent was lower than other flats in the area (and it was an area we really liked).

Perhaps you could arrange that the tenant/s pays a reduced rent until the problem is fixed?

Mokka

I have a mould problem in my flat due to condensation (it's a council flat, so no chance in hell of having it sorted by the landlord) and found that paint with this strong antifungal agent in it completely stopped it recurring:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/26/space-solves-mould-on-wall
(DDQ (didecyldimethylammonium chloride). Condensation Products' Mould Control Pack (£42.30) has enough DDQ steriliser for 10sqm, plus a mould-control additive you can add to ordinary paint, safety specs, gloves, a sponge, a humidity sensor plus free phone advice)

It's strong stuff, you need to be very careful when using it. It should last at least 5 years.

I am not sure if it will work if the mould is not caused by condensation- you will need to find a reason for it.