Can the landord Evict us?

Random_Guy_A

Me and my partner started renting a property in september 2016 on a 1 year fxed contract. About a month in to the tennancy we noticed mould growing in the master bedroom. We call the landlord and she sends her son around to look at it. he advised us that it will go away if the windows are opened daily to let air in , when i pointed out that mould had gotten on the desk too he said to pull the furniture away from the walls slightly to allow it to breathe. being honest we did not open the windows every day, it was a cold winter and the heating in the room isnt great and after all we do have to sleep in there.

periodically we have been spraying the walls and washing them down when the mould comes back but it still keeps coming, its started to cause health problems with my partner.

yesterday we noticed that the back on the fitted wardrobe had mould in there (behind all of the clothes) some of the clothes are ruined so we start to move all clothes out of the drawers and wardrobe and put them downstairs to clean. We call the landlord and I ask her to contact me asap. She instead turns up at the house and I let her in. her immediate response is that its all our fault calls me a liar and says she needs to consult her agent about what to do with us. She also wanted to take photos of the "mess" (you know the one that was made in order for us to clean the clothes. I have since cleaned the mould and the house entirely.

Im worried that I will lose my bond over this So who is in the wrong here, can she evict us.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and thank you in advance :-)

pmlindyloo

The first thing to do is to protect yourself as regards losing your deposit.

You need to start taking photographs of the mould growing and write to the landlord saying that you have mould growing in the property. Keep a copy of the letters. You can do this now saying that you reported this on **** and have taken action as advised by her son (you have, haven't you?)

This then gives you a record of what has happened and fulfils your requirement as a tenant to notify your landlord.

And remember, you only have to return your property back at the end of the tenancy in the same condition as when the tenancy started save for wear and tear.

Is your deposit protected?

Google about mould growing in rented property and find ways to avert the problem. It is very difficult to say whether this is a problem that you have created (drying clothes inside, not opening windows etc)and need to remedy or a problem with the structure of the building.

Now that the weather is improving you should do all you can to improve the situation.

If you do your part correctly to try to remedy this ( and document it) you can then ask the landlady to look at the structure of the building. (google about this too)

You can not be asked to leave for this as you have a fixed term contract (check there isn't a break clause)

A useful link to get you started

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/damp_and_mould_in_rented_homes

Pixie5740

If you have caused the mould by not opening windows, drying clothes over radiators, etc and most importantly the landlord can prove you caused the mould then yes you could lose some or all of your deposit.

Is there a break clause in your tenancy agreement? If so your landlord could invoke it. If not she can simply issue a Section 21 towards the end of your fixed term contract. Landlords do not require a reason to issue Section 21 notices.

See G_M's guides to Deposits: protection, payment and return and Ending/Renewing as AST for further information.

G_M

Can she evict you?

The newlaw on 'retaliatory evicion' protects you against eviction in retaliation for reporting repairing issues. But you MUST follow a procedure to gain this protection, which starts with a letter to the landlord reporting the repairing issue.

Write one now if you have not already.

For more details, read

* Repairing Obligations: the law, common misconceptions, reporting/enforcing, retaliatory eviction & the new protection (2015)

"worried that I will lose my bond over this So who is in the wrong here,"
Connected issues. If YOU are in the wrong, then yes, you can lose your bond (or more, if you cause more damage than the value of the bond)

If the problem is caused by the property, not you, then no, you cannot lose you bond.

Damp/mould can be caused by structural problems (the LL's responsibility) or lifestyle (th tenant's). See

http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2010/10/25/tenants-legal-help-condensation-and-damp/


This is a useful checklist for council tenants - just substitute 'your landlord' for 'estate management officer'.


The link below also may help.

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

ProDave

For mould to grow, the walls must be damp. Assuming it's not penetrating damp from a defect, then most likely is the walls are cold, and moisture from within is condensing on the walls.

What to do: Keep the place well heated so the walls are not cold. Turning the radiators down for instance will agrivate the problem as the walls will be cold, so the heating needs to be on high enough to keep the room warm for a decent period of time. Keep the room ventilated, trickle ventilators or the window open just a tiny bit should do. Two people exhale a lot of moisture over a night, so it has to go somewhere, it it can't ventilate out, it ends up condensing on a cold surface.

Do not add to the moisture i.e by drying clothes indoors especially not in the bedrooms.

I can see both sides of this issue. We had a rental flat and one tenant complained water was "running down the walls" Sure enough it was. But all the windows were shut and the trickle vents wee shut. The bathroom fan had been disabled. The heating was not on so the flat was cold, and in every room was a clothes horse draped in soaking wet washing. After that tenant moved on, we never had another problem with damp (we didn't have before that tenant either)

If you really can't heat, ventilate, or remove the moisture, buy a dehumidifier. That is in fact what we did as a landlord, provide a dehumidifier to try and extract the moisture caused by all the wet washing indoors.

My guess is this is an old house with poor insulation. I am willing to bet you did NOT look at the EPC certificate before deciding which house to rent, and obviously did not choose to rent a nice well insulated modern one with a low EPC? It's pointless spending money for these certificates if everybody ignores them.

Random_Guy_A

Thank you for your responses they have been quite helpful.


" If you have caused the mould by not opening windows, drying clothes over radiators, etc and most importantly the landlord can prove you caused the mould then yes you could lose some or all of your deposit."

"I can see both sides of this issue. We had a rental flat and one tenant complained water was "running down the walls" Sure enough it was. But all the windows were shut and the trickle vents wee shut. The bathroom fan had been disabled. The heating was not on so the flat was cold, and in every room was a clothes horse draped in soaking wet washing. After that tenant moved on, we never had another problem with damp (we didn't have before that tenant either)"


I dont mind admitting to not being the tidiest of people (spring clean happens once a month) but we never dry clothes in the house, we have a tumble dryer. The property isnt that old, we live near the harbour so im guessing that is a contributing factor. I'll admit we didnt open the windows constantly over the winter, the windows dont have vents, the room is large and we dont have central heating, we have a small electric heater that doesnt warm the room up enough.electric heaters cost and arm and a leg can we be expected to use them all day or night while the windows are open? we shouldnt have to choose between heating the room that we sleep in and mould growing? also are we meant make sure the walk in wardrobe is well ventalated?

Sorry its just really frustrating, Im glad to know we cant be evicted and I will take your advice , take photos and write a letter too. hopefully she wont try and take all of our bond at the end of the term.

TBagpuss

You don't need to keep the heating on all the time, nor to keep the windows open all the time, just do both enough to keep the house adequately ventilated .

And / Or get a dehumidifier

teddysmum

TBagpuss wrote: »

And / Or get a dehumidifier

This doesn't have to be a more expensive electric one. You can buy window ledge boxes from Aldi, who often have the refill packs greatly reduced in price. (We use them in our caravan).

Cakeguts

Is the tumble dryer vented to the outside? Other things that cause condensation that also cause mould to grow. Cooking in without opening windows or using an extractor fan to get rid of the steam and not using an extractor fan in the bathroom. You need to find out why you are getting mould because sadly if it is your lifestyle it will happen in every house you live in.

FBaby

we shouldnt have to choose between heating the room that we sleep in and mould growing?

If it was your own house, it is a cost that you would need to feature in. You are right that being on the harbour will make it worse. The fact that you want to save money doesn't mean that it becomes the responsibility of the LL to deal with the consequences.

Is your dryer a condenser one? If so, that will make it worse.

You only have a few months to go so start opening the windows, ideally in the mornings and keep the place clean. If you want your bond back, then clean the walls or potentially repaint, or take the risk that you can convince the ADR that the problem wasn't your own doing, which will much depend on what evidence the LL would be able to gather to show that it was (ie. get an expert in to say there are no issues with the structure and the problem was therefore a lifestyle one).

gingercordial

teddysmum wrote: »

This doesn't have to be a more expensive electric one. You can buy window ledge boxes from Aldi, who often have the refill packs greatly reduced in price. (We use them in our caravan).

Agreed. We rent a flat which runs damp to the extent that if we have the bedroom windows shut overnight (not that often as we like a cold room, but sometimes that's too cold) we wake up to water running down the inside of the glazed front door. We didn't want the noise and running costs of a dehumidifier (apparently the previous tenant resorted to one) so bought a couple of passive Unibond Aero 360 units from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/UniBond-Aero-Moisture-Absorber-Device/dp/B00F1DNYPE They're £6.99 each for the units at the moment and they use refill tablets which are about £5/pair every six weeks. Not sure how that compares to the Aldi ones but I assume we're talking about the same kind of thing.

They pull an astonishing amount of liquid out of the air and and we know the tablets need replacing when we see the moisture on the door again. Apparently the trick is to site them properly where there is naturally air flow through them rather than trying to hide them in a corner where the air is still. They're slightly bigger than a large jar of coffee so they aren't too obtrusive sat next to doorways in the hall. That said we have no children or pets to knock them over!