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We screwed up! Now what to do? (long)
watl1
Posts: 9 Forumite
Hi all. My partner and I have a bit of a predicament which is a bit long, but if anyone can offer any advice, it would be much appreciated!
After 18 months out of the UK, we decided to return and move to a rented property but were under quite a bit of time pressure and in a bit of an unfortunate situation as my partner was unemployed and I am self employed, so straight away a bit "risky" for landlords. We also had quite a list of requirements for the property so when we found somewhere in a good location, the right size and for the right price, we decided to take it.
When we viewed the property with an agent, one of the tenants was in and as their furniture and belongings were everywhere and half packed, we could see that the property desperately needed repainting and that previously there had been damp in the bathroom, although the agent said that the wall was completely dry now so we could just paint over it. I could see that the tenants hadn't looked after it at all and needed a thorough clean (caked grime on the cooker, light switches in the kitchen etc.)
The agent said that if we wanted, we could finish painting the bathroom and kitchen (which was half painted) in exchange for not paying a deposit. I didn't think this was a particularly good deal as would mean that we were doing the work for free, but I thought what the heck - I'm an illustrator and work from home so saw it as an opportunity to make the place a creative space and decorate as I please as they said if the landlord painted, they would literally only be "touching up". We also paid 6 months rent in advance as a lot of the agents we'd done viewings with had requested this due to our employment status and some had still refused to even see us, so we knew we were at a disadvantage.
Our move into the property was delayed a bit as the tenants apparently couldn't get their stuff out in time but our tenancy wasn't due to start until 1st Feb so we were still getting one day "rent free". During this period, I requested the tenants thoroughly clean the property, to which the agent responded that they had (!!), but would ask them to clean again.
.
When we moved in and signed the AST with the agent at the property, we noticed the place hadn't been cleaned - there was food left in the fridge, carpets unhoovered, etc. so the agent offered us GBP30 to clean ourselves. As we would be decorating, we said not to worry about rest of house but we wanted him to arrange a cleaner for the kitchen as the money he was offering wasn't worth it - it didn't look that bad from a glance. The agent said he'd get a cleaner to us within a couple of days.
When the agent left and we started opening cupboards and the oven, they were really dirty and the oven was the most disgusting oven I've ever seen - it had mould growing inside it! We didn't want to even consider touching this, so have been doing our meals on the hob and my boyfriend ended up cleaning out the fridge freezer anyway as we had grocery order arriving. We've now painted the kitchen but not heard anything from the agent in terms of a cleaner
The horrors we discovered in the flat included mould growing on the skirting boards in the bedroom; when we cooked in the kitchen, condensation formed on all the walls and a bit dripped down from the doorway; the area behind the oven was filthy - caked in grime/mould and just generally disgusting; mould at the bottom of the kitchen door which we initially thought was just dirt; there was mould on the chipboard in the lounge and second bedroom walls; skirting boards are in very bad shape generally (rotting wood, etc). We didn't realise there is also a shared cellar with the flat upstairs which is basically rammed with rubbish and essentially been used as a dumping ground.
Even when we removed the bed that the tenant had left, the divan base was covered in mould spores :eek:. There are other things as well that we probably just failed to notice on the first visit - e.g. mould around bath panel which is kind of peeling off the side of the bath.
Now, we're in a bit of a difficult situation - on one hand, we want to complain about the state of the property and about the lack of cleaning, but worried that they'll say we "took it as seen", although we expected it cleaned and because tenants were in here, we didn't think people would be living in such unsanitary conditions, plus we couldn't examine everything as they had so much stuff everywhere. We'd been in some rough places in Asia for a long time so it's not like we're OCD about cleaning - we're pretty lax, but this is something else!! My boyfriend has now treated the mould in all the rooms where we could see it and we've painted the kitchen, lounge, bathroom and one bedroom.
The agent put us on a 6 month tenancy and the agent initially advised that he'd come and inspect after 3 months and then we could renew if we wanted at the end of 6 months.
I know the landlord (who lives out of the UK) is responsible for sorting out damp (if it still exists) but I don't know where we stand in terms of asking for compensation or money back for the extra work in treating mould. After 3 days in the flat, my partner and I are sneezing a lot and both have sore throats which I would imagine is down to the spores.
We're both regretting the situation at the moment but if we were to stay here for 1-2 years, then the money we've spent on decorating will probably be worth it, but who's to say they might be waiting for us to do the decorating and then turf us out in 6 months, or put the rent up anyway? Presumably, we need to tell them about the mould anyway, as I don't know if this is down to the previous tenants not reporting it, or reporting it and nothing being done!
Any advice would be really helpful - it might just be a case of we've made our bed, so now we have to lie in it.
Thanks!
After 18 months out of the UK, we decided to return and move to a rented property but were under quite a bit of time pressure and in a bit of an unfortunate situation as my partner was unemployed and I am self employed, so straight away a bit "risky" for landlords. We also had quite a list of requirements for the property so when we found somewhere in a good location, the right size and for the right price, we decided to take it.
When we viewed the property with an agent, one of the tenants was in and as their furniture and belongings were everywhere and half packed, we could see that the property desperately needed repainting and that previously there had been damp in the bathroom, although the agent said that the wall was completely dry now so we could just paint over it. I could see that the tenants hadn't looked after it at all and needed a thorough clean (caked grime on the cooker, light switches in the kitchen etc.)
The agent said that if we wanted, we could finish painting the bathroom and kitchen (which was half painted) in exchange for not paying a deposit. I didn't think this was a particularly good deal as would mean that we were doing the work for free, but I thought what the heck - I'm an illustrator and work from home so saw it as an opportunity to make the place a creative space and decorate as I please as they said if the landlord painted, they would literally only be "touching up". We also paid 6 months rent in advance as a lot of the agents we'd done viewings with had requested this due to our employment status and some had still refused to even see us, so we knew we were at a disadvantage.
Our move into the property was delayed a bit as the tenants apparently couldn't get their stuff out in time but our tenancy wasn't due to start until 1st Feb so we were still getting one day "rent free". During this period, I requested the tenants thoroughly clean the property, to which the agent responded that they had (!!), but would ask them to clean again.
.
When we moved in and signed the AST with the agent at the property, we noticed the place hadn't been cleaned - there was food left in the fridge, carpets unhoovered, etc. so the agent offered us GBP30 to clean ourselves. As we would be decorating, we said not to worry about rest of house but we wanted him to arrange a cleaner for the kitchen as the money he was offering wasn't worth it - it didn't look that bad from a glance. The agent said he'd get a cleaner to us within a couple of days.
When the agent left and we started opening cupboards and the oven, they were really dirty and the oven was the most disgusting oven I've ever seen - it had mould growing inside it! We didn't want to even consider touching this, so have been doing our meals on the hob and my boyfriend ended up cleaning out the fridge freezer anyway as we had grocery order arriving. We've now painted the kitchen but not heard anything from the agent in terms of a cleaner
The horrors we discovered in the flat included mould growing on the skirting boards in the bedroom; when we cooked in the kitchen, condensation formed on all the walls and a bit dripped down from the doorway; the area behind the oven was filthy - caked in grime/mould and just generally disgusting; mould at the bottom of the kitchen door which we initially thought was just dirt; there was mould on the chipboard in the lounge and second bedroom walls; skirting boards are in very bad shape generally (rotting wood, etc). We didn't realise there is also a shared cellar with the flat upstairs which is basically rammed with rubbish and essentially been used as a dumping ground.
Even when we removed the bed that the tenant had left, the divan base was covered in mould spores :eek:. There are other things as well that we probably just failed to notice on the first visit - e.g. mould around bath panel which is kind of peeling off the side of the bath.
Now, we're in a bit of a difficult situation - on one hand, we want to complain about the state of the property and about the lack of cleaning, but worried that they'll say we "took it as seen", although we expected it cleaned and because tenants were in here, we didn't think people would be living in such unsanitary conditions, plus we couldn't examine everything as they had so much stuff everywhere. We'd been in some rough places in Asia for a long time so it's not like we're OCD about cleaning - we're pretty lax, but this is something else!! My boyfriend has now treated the mould in all the rooms where we could see it and we've painted the kitchen, lounge, bathroom and one bedroom.
The agent put us on a 6 month tenancy and the agent initially advised that he'd come and inspect after 3 months and then we could renew if we wanted at the end of 6 months.
I know the landlord (who lives out of the UK) is responsible for sorting out damp (if it still exists) but I don't know where we stand in terms of asking for compensation or money back for the extra work in treating mould. After 3 days in the flat, my partner and I are sneezing a lot and both have sore throats which I would imagine is down to the spores.
We're both regretting the situation at the moment but if we were to stay here for 1-2 years, then the money we've spent on decorating will probably be worth it, but who's to say they might be waiting for us to do the decorating and then turf us out in 6 months, or put the rent up anyway? Presumably, we need to tell them about the mould anyway, as I don't know if this is down to the previous tenants not reporting it, or reporting it and nothing being done!
Any advice would be really helpful - it might just be a case of we've made our bed, so now we have to lie in it.
Thanks!
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Comments
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Too long couldn't face it. Would you precis what matters please.I am not a cat (But my friend is)0
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Hope you took photo's of absolutely everything described above when you moved in.0
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Give the landlord written notice to solve the health issues. If nothing happens in a week contact environmental health who will issue an improvement notice.
That should force the landlord to rectify and H&S issues, but lesson learnt about not accepting any property before you have seen the state of it.0 -
Thanks guys. I know it's very long but wanted to cover everything so that folks had a better understanding of the situ. Yes, we took photos, thank goodness.
In short, moved into property, saw it needed lick of paint, paid 6 months rent in advance due to personal circumstances, agreed to finish painting bathroom and kitchen instead of paying deposit. Moved into property, tenants hadn't cleaned, agent said he'd get a cleaner round in 2 days (hasn't) and we've since found mould growing in several places, we've both got sore throats now and spending more money than we wanted/planned in order to treat the problem areas.
Unsure whether it's from poor ventilation or rising damp (lots of damp around skirting boards but wet walls and drips from ceiling in kitchen when we cook) so not sure where we stand in terms of any compensation for doing more work than we thought was necessary, or landlord's obligations to sort this out. I'm self employed and work from home so really can't afford to get sick from inhaling spores all day long.0 -
Mould can happen for a number of reasons. The previous tenants might never had opened a window to ventilate the place or dried clothes by hanging them over the radiator. Mould doesn't automatically mean there is something wrong with the property itself.
Shelter has this guide to reporting repairs to your LL.
Step 1: WRITE to your LL. The address to write to will be the address for serving notices given in your TA. It wouldn't do any harm to email as well.0 -
Jesus! You're not doing brain surgery here, are you telling you couldn't summarise your problems into one paragraph? Something to do with painting, I gathered and then gave up.0
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Ronaldo_Mconaldo wrote: »Jesus! You're not doing brain surgery here, are you telling you couldn't summarise your problems into one paragraph? Something to do with painting, I gathered and then gave up.
They have come here for help and advice from knowledgeable people and have tried to put their problems into context.
Have a bit of sympathy
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