Black mould in a rental - what are my right?

tom9980

HarryGray wrote: »

I would absolutely love to get up and move right now but our contract is for another 8 months. If we leave we have to pay back 11% + VAT of the remaining term and stay in the flat until the landlord finds new tenants. I'm really stuck here as its basically killing my health and makes me a bit depressed to go up there. Is there anything I can do other than keep asking the LL for help?

Should I ask him to maybe agree to us leaving and waiver the 11% as good will?

I forgot to mention I have a rare condition too where black mould affects my breathing and swallowing foods and its actually put me out of work a couple days so this stuff is affecting my health. I've had diagnostic tests and all of the proof to confirm this too.

Read the link in post 2 https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=67759903&postcount=2

It tells you what you must do, part of the process involves the council environmental health department. This is all you can do but it may help speed up your onward move.

HarryGray

Hi all, 
Thanks for the help on all of this. I followed the advice on the forum and made a formal request for the damp specialist to attend the property (this was on the 7th February). The agents took ages as normal to arrange this and they supposedly attended on 11th March. I have been chasing for the outcome of what they said, however they have now said this is no longer priority and won't be following up!!!!

I know the times are tough with everything that's going on but my condition has been getting worse since being asked to stay home due to exposure to the black mould and I have moved back to my parents house because of constant headaches and swelling of the throat. 

I have no idea what to do anymore. I have lost a considerable amount of money due to mould damage, excess heating bill/electric bill from de humidifier and train tickets leaving the house. 

Given the current circumstances - am I within my rights to send a cost breakdown and take this to small claims? 

Thanks in advance

[Deleted User]

HarryGray said:

Hi all, 
Thanks for the help on all of this. I followed the advice on the forum and made a formal request for the damp specialist to attend the property (this was on the 7th February). The agents took ages as normal to arrange this and they supposedly attended on 11th March. I have been chasing for the outcome of what they said, however they have now said this is no longer priority and won't be following up!!!!

I know the times are tough with everything that's going on but my condition has been getting worse since being asked to stay home due to exposure to the black mould and I have moved back to my parents house because of constant headaches and swelling of the throat. 

I have no idea what to do anymore. I have lost a considerable amount of money due to mould damage, excess heating bill/electric bill from de humidifier and train tickets leaving the house. 

Given the current circumstances - am I within my rights to send a cost breakdown and take this to small claims? 

Thanks in advance

@HarryGray, I get this is an unpleasant living situation to be stuck in. You were directed numerous times to the correct procedure to deal with this and it appears from your latest post that you didn't follow said procedure. Step 1: write to the landlord and the address for the serving of notices given in your tenancy agreement asking for the repair to be carried out. Step 2: escalate the matter to environmental health. Is there a reason you haven't contacted environmental health yet?  

[Deleted User]

Look up the law which came into effect last year (homes for fitness for human habitation act) . This should cover you. What you need to do is get a meeting organised with the letting agent unless your dealing directly with landlord in which case make them aware of this act. If they don't act on it within a suitable time frame then mutually agree to have your contract terminated sooner. They have a legal obligation and many landlords/letting agents either are not aware of the new laws in place or think tenants are not aware. I'm going through something similar whereby we are using this law on a property offered to us by the council that had major damp and mold issues. 

Doozergirl

I don't know what you need a 'damp specialist' for if you know it's a roofing problem.  

Damp specialists aren't going to do anything useful.  The leak needs to be fixed by a roofer, then you'll want a dehumidifier indoors to help dry the wall out (which will take time).  When it's dry, it can all be washed down properly and repainted.  

 

Literally no need for damp specialists.  Push for the appropriate repair.  

HarryGray

Lover_of_Lycra said:

HarryGray said:

Hi all, 
Thanks for the help on all of this. I followed the advice on the forum and made a formal request for the damp specialist to attend the property (this was on the 7th February). The agents took ages as normal to arrange this and they supposedly attended on 11th March. I have been chasing for the outcome of what they said, however they have now said this is no longer priority and won't be following up!!!!

I know the times are tough with everything that's going on but my condition has been getting worse since being asked to stay home due to exposure to the black mould and I have moved back to my parents house because of constant headaches and swelling of the throat. 

I have no idea what to do anymore. I have lost a considerable amount of money due to mould damage, excess heating bill/electric bill from de humidifier and train tickets leaving the house. 

Given the current circumstances - am I within my rights to send a cost breakdown and take this to small claims? 

Thanks in advance

@HarryGray, I get this is an unpleasant living situation to be stuck in. You were directed numerous times to the correct procedure to deal with this and it appears from your latest post that you didn't follow said procedure. Step 1: write to the landlord and the address for the serving of notices given in your tenancy agreement asking for the repair to be carried out. Step 2: escalate the matter to environmental health. Is there a reason you haven't contacted environmental health yet?  

I have been, but they took around 3 weeks to reply and now they are saying no one can enter the property because of Corona and basically live with it

HarryGray

Daveym79 said:

Look up the law which came into effect last year (homes for fitness for human habitation act) . This should cover you. What you need to do is get a meeting organised with the letting agent unless your dealing directly with landlord in which case make them aware of this act. If they don't act on it within a suitable time frame then mutually agree to have your contract terminated sooner. They have a legal obligation and many landlords/letting agents either are not aware of the new laws in place or think tenants are not aware. I'm going through something similar whereby we are using this law on a property offered to us by the council that had major damp and mold issues. 

Thanks! I don't think this law applies to me as my tenancy began in 2018  

HarryGray

Doozergirl said:

I don't know what you need a 'damp specialist' for if you know it's a roofing problem.  

Damp specialists aren't going to do anything useful.  The leak needs to be fixed by a roofer, then you'll want a dehumidifier indoors to help dry the wall out (which will take time).  When it's dry, it can all be washed down properly and repainted.  

 

Literally no need for damp specialists.  Push for the appropriate repair.  

Thanks for this. This is the problem, I've told them its a roof problem but they refuse to believe it until they get a 'specialist' to look, however that specialist has taken so long to come to our flat. It looks like they are delaying the repairs until we move out which is in summer.

Therefore, we aren't even bothered about the repairs anymore because we are moving out so soon. But we do want compensation for what they've put us through and damaged belongings etc. I just wanted to know how to move forward to get our costs back. Do we just go direct to LL and after two weeks file for small claims for our costs? 

[Deleted User]

If you signed your contract before 20 March 2019, you will have to wait until 20 March 2020 before you can use the Homes Act (unless you sign a new tenancy or your tenancy becomes a monthly rolling contract).

HarryGray

Hi all,

appreciate your help so far on this. So given that summer is coming, the damp has now gone and our contract runs out in August. 

For months we have been asking for them to fix it and have been responsive throughout. We applied through environmental health but we assume it was on hold due to Corona virus.

Does anyone have any idea now as to the process we follow for compensation? We have around £650 worth of damaged goods and we left the property for 3 weeks due to the mould causing illness, so wanted those 3 weeks rent back. Is this just a small claims court thing?

honestly, the LL and Agent are no longer responding, and we have proof of correspondence going back to November 2019.

thanks in advanced