Mould and damp in rented property! help!

stephaniehall

Hi,

I am new here and in desperate need of some advice...

I have been renting a property, the boiler was leaking causing mould to grow rapidly and the whole property was rather damp.
The leak caused my water bill for a two person household to be very large! - I am wondering if I am able to get compensation from the landlord for this?

The immersion tank had been heating the water (I did not know this) meaning the whole time I was in the property I had limited hot water, I couldn't run one hot bath fully. Am I able to do anything about this? My bills here were just under £500 for six months!

I moved out of the property 7th January 2017. The landlord asked us to leave asap as she needed to sort the property, every room had mould growing up the walls and floor, it was awful!
We taped up our boxes and had to re-tape them two days later as the damp had caused the tape to come off. That shows how damp the property was.

I am aware the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 chapter 70, 10. 'Fitness for human habitation' states 'In determining for the purposes of this Act whether a house is unfit for human habitation, regard shall be had to its condition in respect of the following matters- freedom from damp, ventilation, repair, stability, - the house shall be regarded as unfit for human habitation if, and only if, it is so far defective in one or more of those matters that it is not reasonably suitable for occupation in that condition.' the flat had awful ventilation, we were asked to keep windows open in freezing cold winter.
I am unsure if I can claim anything back if I mention the above law?

Also the act states 'statutory nuisance', this includes dampness and mould growth - the landlord should not let this be an issue. We had to leave because of that exact issue.

The mould has ruined many personal items including a double bed, our sofa bed, our tv unit, one suit, 3 shirts, 4 photo frames, 2 bags and 4 pairs of shoes.
The landlord does not seem bothered that the mould has ruined many of our items, we are going to have to replace the bed, sofa and TV unit. the landlord came in and moved the furniture into the centre of each room away from the walls. We had to continue living like this making any space we had in the flat even smaller. are there any tenant rights regarding furniture ruined from mould?

I've spoken to citizen advice and shelter however have not got very far!

thank you everyone!

FBaby

Did you report the issues during the tenancy? If so, what did the LL do/not do? If not, why not?

stephaniehall

Yes, all the issues were mentioned many of times to the LL.
I have asked twice now for compensation and have not received a reply.
I am wondering what my rights are regarding the issues as I am willing to take this further if I do have rights for compensation.

Pixie5740

Mentioned or properly reported to the address for the serving of notices that was in your tenancy agreement?

stephaniehall

I reported all the issues to the agency and they passed the issues to the LL.
They don't seem to think they should compensate us.

AdrianC

stephaniehall wrote: »

I have been renting a property, the boiler was leaking causing mould to grow rapidly and the whole property was rather damp.
The leak caused my water bill for a two person household to be very large!

You may need to clarify the scale of this leak. It must be somewhere along the lines of "deluge" to have much effect on your water bill.

My own water bill is £1.35 per 1,000 litres. Let's say it's added £13.50 to your bill - 10,000 litres. In a <say> 50m2 flat, that would be around 20cm deep.

noddynoo

Did you take pictures? Similar happened to us and we had to move out and LL painted it all again and re let so we had no comeback It was our fault for not complaining sooner I bought a dehumidifier and just kept really cleaning things A lot of our paintings and clothes and furniture were ruined. It was an old house though and neighbours had the same below us but they didn;t mind

stephaniehall

Ah I see, ok.


It was constant water being chucked out the pipe from the boiler, and it went under the floorboards, one floor board was lifted up and you could see about 7cm of water under it. the floorboards in the hallway and lounge were so damp they had started to lift up.

stephaniehall

noddynoo wrote: »

Did you take pictures? Similar happened to us and we had to move out and LL painted it all again and re let so we had no comeback It was our fault for not complaining sooner I bought a dehumidifier and just kept really cleaning things A lot of our paintings and clothes and furniture were ruined. It was an old house though and neighbours had the same below us but they didn;t mind

Did you get any compensation? We had a dehumidifier too.
The LL needs to re do the floorboards and re paint the walls

FBaby

I reported all the issues to the agency and they passed the issues to the LL.

How were the issues reported, ie. what did you say? Did you report the mould only, or an issue with the boiler? Did they respond? Did they send someone to have a look at it? What did they do? How long had you been in the property and when did the mould issue start?

Until we know what actions were taken/not taken, it's hard to advise. Saying that, if things were so bad that you think you deserve compensation, why did you move but wait for the LL to give you notice? You would have had more of a case for compensation if indeed, you'd considered so bad and no evidence of the LL doing any repairs that you had no choice but to leave. Did you ever get the environment agency to come and inspect? If so, was it classified as inhabitable?

AdrianC

stephaniehall wrote: »

It was constant water being chucked out the pipe from the boiler, and it went under the floorboards, one floor board was lifted up and you could see about 7cm of water under it. the floorboards in the hallway and lounge were so damp they had started to lift up.

A bit of mould is the LEAST of the problems, in that case.