Environmental health visit - landlord.

brianposter

It took me about ten years to make my house reasonably mouse proof so it is a bit early to give up - just keep plugging away and you will eventually get there.

What you really seem to need is a different agreement where you organise the building work and they provide a budget.

greatcrested

If they 'want to keep it in the family' and to 'make it a home' they will need to spend some money renovating it.

And if they want tenants to live there, they will need to make it habitable, and compliant with tenancy law.

So either way, they need to spend money.

Messing around with small bodge jobs is pointless. As brian suggests above, they could come to an agreement with you regarding organising work, but the first step is to see what EH say.

FreeBear

mrsm990 said: As there was damp in the dining room the builder they used put some kind of damp proof on the walls inside. Which has reacted to any paint put on after and wallpaper simply cannot stick because it's causes the adhesive to turn to a dust. I've asked about this month's and months ago. Still no help regarding that. We can't go near that wall as it just causes a cloud of dust. 
I'm pretty sure the product he used is meant for the exterior.

An exterior grade product would have been fine for use internally, but.... If this is an old building with solid brick or stone walls, slapping "waterproofing" chemicals on the walls will just lead to long term damage - The chemicals trap moisture within the walls which will try to find a way out elsewhere. In the process, it turns plaster to mush (a real problem with modern gypsum plasters). And a damp wall is a cold wall which is where condensation forms and makes the wall even wetter.

A quick & dirty fix for dusty walls is to paint a dilute solution of PVA on. As it dries, it should bind the dusty surface together for a year or two. The PVA will unfortunately trap moister in the wall, so eventually, a more permanent and sympathetic repair will be required.

mrsm990

Thank you all, yes they agreed work needed doing but they only hired one man, who to be honest I don't think was trained. Nothing was done to a professional standard, however one man and he worked non stop with them adding and adding jobs, cutting corners where they could. 
The wall that is the issue is an outside stone wall, so I will see if the PVA solution works. I'm not against putting money in over time and making it a home for us to live in and keep it nice ,we pay the agreed rent on time every month. 
However it is pointless doing some of the rooms as they need to be sorted first. 
All the walls were painted over ( not stripped) first which wouldn't have been an issue but it's even the case with walls with half the wallpaper missing and really they needed to be stripped to see what the wall was like beneath, which look like blown plaster to me. 
I'm worried to do it myself as I cannot afford to have a plasterer in. 

macman

No deposit is OK, it's the LL's risk in that case. But the absence of gas safety cert, EPC, and 'How to rent' leaflet all mean that the tenancy is unregularised and so any S21 served will be invalid. Absence of a GSC is also a serious criminal offence, were you to report it. 
So, any threats to serve notice, however guarded, are just hot air. Even once she's regularised the tenancy, which I doubt she's capable of, it would still take 12-18m to evict you. If the condition is as you describe it, you are in far more danger of EH shutting it down and moving you out, than of notice and eviction.

mrsm990

I understand that could be the case. If EH do condem the house then so be it. They have said they will help us. I don't know how else to tackle it. 
I'm seeing other private rentals this week so I will see how it goes. I have no date as to when the EH will come out. 
I guess it's a case of wait and see what they say and go from there. 
Thank you for all help and advice. 

greatcrested

https://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/faqtenant.htm

mrsm990

Still awaiting a call from EH to arrange a visit. My son's bedroom ceiling now has a hole and water dripping through it. Yellow weather warning here for rain.Great!
Hoping they will atleast sort this issue out as there are also other damp patches on the ceiling in different places. 
2 of the private houses we visited were no goes unfortunately. Literally one thing after the other at the moment. 

hb2

mrsm990 said:

Still awaiting a call from EH to arrange a visit. My son's bedroom ceiling now has a hole and water dripping through it. Yellow weather warning here for rain.Great!
Hoping they will atleast sort this issue out as there are also other damp patches on the ceiling in different places. 
2 of the private houses we visited were no goes unfortunately. Literally one thing after the other at the moment. 

Call EH and tell them about the water coming through the ceiling.