Really bad damp smell in our new property

LemonMoon

Hi all,

We are moving into a new property this weekend, it's a 3 bedroom house that's been a bit neglected and it's quite old. When we viewed the property the previous tenant was still living there and although we could see the place was a bit tired and needed a bit of tlc, we didn't come across anything that caused us alarm.

We got the keys on Monday and were warned that the previous tenant hadn't bothered cleaning the property and so they were sending in cleaners Tuesday morning. We went to the house Monday evening and were struck by the smell of damp and could see how bad the walls actually were after all the furniture had been moved out. The cleaners have shampooed the carpets and bleached the floors etc but it's still a bit of a state.

My most pressing concerns are that the bathroom has a lingering smell of urine, my partner claims he cannot smell anything but I definitely can. I've rebleached the room today but the smell has not budged. Outside the bathroom is the back door, some of the skirting board near it looks quite rotten and there's a strong smell of damp in the area which wafts into the bathroom and the kitchen which is connected the other side. I've popped in a plug in freshener to mask the smell but it's not really a solution to eliminate it.

The walls downstairs are all wallpapered which is peeling in places, especially around skirting boards. If you press the wall you can feel how crumbly they are underneath. I used to live in a studio flat in a similar condition and my clothes permanently smelled of damp and I couldn't leave anything against a wall. I'm so disheartened about moving in properly tomorrow and living with this smell, I don't know what to do. My partner doesn't think it's that bad and we are now aware that the previous tenant was pretty filthy given the state of the place when she left, so perhaps she didn't ventilate it as well as she should have done. We are pretty good at keeping a good airflow and heating on so maybe the smell will improve - I have to say though that I didn't notice any smell when we viewed the property.

Is there anything we could do to help the situation? I will be alerting property management but we all know how useless letting agents are with issues like this. Upstairs doesn't have this smell, it's actually ok up there asides one of the built in closets which we'll be avoiding the use of. My number one concern is that we are about to have a baby so this really isn't ideal. I'm at a loss

misswansea

You're not at a loss, you seem to have all the right ideas so far:
Cleaning, ventilation, air fresheners and making management aware of the issue.

Long term depends on the cause of the damp and smells, if it was just the previous Tennant's poor hygiene and maybe drying clothes indoors with the windows closed etc then a couple of weeks of cleaning, fresh air, neutradol and febreeze could work wonders.

If not then there could be an expensive damp problem for the land lord to fix in which case your best option will be to move on as soon as you are out of the initial tenancy agreement.
Most landlords will shy away from the cost of fixing the problem, and even if yours doesn't it could well mean more disruption and building work than a young family needs.

Seriously if its still a problem after two months of sunny spring weather its not a problem that's going away easily so buy or borrow a dehumidifier to help if you can, read your contract carefully, put a big note on your calendar to submit notice as soon as you can without penalty and start hunting for a nicer home.
Arranging a move with a new baby won't be easy, but if the other option is to spend the winter in a damp house with your baby my advice would be to go.

Urine smell in bathrooms is often the flooring, what's the floor made of, could it be easily replaced?

FreeBear

misswansea wrote: »

If not then there could be an expensive damp problem for the land lord to fix

Look round the outside of the property - If the ground levels are at, or above the damp proof course, the soil will need digging out. If it is concrete or slabs right up to the wall, then it gets a little more physical.

Long term, I'd go with misswansea - Once minimum term is up, look for somewhere else. Make sure you document all the loose patches of plaster and rotting woodwork just in case the landlord tries to claim it is your fault.

zoothornrollo_2

Yes, take pictures now.

silverwhistle

When I returned to my house after living abroad there were rotten floorboards around the loo where the male tenant (and son) had obviously been missing... It wasn't a big job and it certainly helped the freshness of the atmosphere in the bathroom! Have a sensory look around the pan!

Mr.Generous

silverwhistle wrote: »

When I returned to my house after living abroad there were rotten floorboards around the loo where the male tenant (and son) had obviously been missing... It wasn't a big job and it certainly helped the freshness of the atmosphere in the bathroom! Have a sensory look around the pan!

Almost what I was going to say, the wooden floor in bathrooms often smells of urine, take up the floor covering and clean the wooden floorboards with a bleach / water solution. If they are black, smelly and rotten they will need replacing.

Damp around the skirting boards downstairs sounds like rising damp. I've seen on some 1930's properties with concrete skirting that the plaster behind the skirting goes down into the sub floor and draws the moisture. That's relatively easy to sort compared to the damp injection and plastering sand / cement tanking method. I wish I'd checked that before we knocked the plaster off to 1mtr all round the room.:mad:

Apodemus

misswansea wrote: »

Arranging a move with a new baby won't be easy...

Babies are really quite small, resilient and easy to move! Our first one had lived in four houses, three continents and had flown 32,000 miles by her first birthday! Babies are happy when their parents are happy.