Privatly renting property, damp and mould please advise

yummymummy1987_2

I have posted this in another room aswell because wasnt sure where it should go :rolleyes:

Were currently having problems with damp in our flat at the moment(privately rented). I had enviromental health out last year because it started then, they wrote to my letting agency and my landlord came round and put a dehumidifier(sp) in and then bleached the walls and repainted and it didnt come back right up intil 4 weeks ago. I rang letting agency twice and emailed and was told that the landlord had been told. ANYHOOO when i was bidding for properties the other day i saw a link that said about disrepair points, aparently enviromental health award them up to 20 points. Obviously that would give me a much better chance of finding a property. But im just really confused about whether to go ahead with it all or whether to just wait and let the landlord sort it out.
So far i have left a answer phone message,rung and spoke to letting agency(was told the landlord had been mad aware of the problem) and sent a email but still no visit from the landlord (its been almost 4 weeks)
SO would u just go ahead and let enviromental health help me out in the hope we can be reloacted?


For anyone thats intrested this is what ive emailed to housing section and there reply so far
Hiya I was wondering if you could give me a bit of advice, first of all could you tell me how many points exactly I have at the moment
I think by looking at the points list I should have 40 points? (Local residence, have been on the list since June 2005, Do not have a garden, and live above a shop with no lift with a 3 yr old)
I am currently having problems with my flat due to damp and black mould, I have told my letting agency but have not heard anything back so far apart from that they have contacted my landlord, I did have to have Peter from environmental health out last year I think it was?? And he wrote them a letter saying they had to fix the problem, but obviously it has come back. I am going to wait a few more weeks to give the landlord a chance to fix the problem but do you think that I would be able to get disrepair points?

I have applied for two properties today but there seems to be so many people above me, I do understand that there are lots of people on the list and the properties are few and far between, but im just wondering if maybe I am entitled to more points?
If you could have a look for me that would be great, Maybe give me some advice as to how I would go about getting the disrepair points and also how long I should wait for the landlord to come round before contacting environmental health again. As I have mention before there is black mould on my walls (particularly in 3 yr olds bedroom) and we had to take my son to hospital last winter due to breathing problems, I spoke to my health visitor last Thursday and she told me to give the landlord the benefit of the doubt and wait a few weeks, but on the other hand said that it could well affect my sons breathing etc
THEN THEY REPLYED
Thank you for your email. Firstly I can confirm that you do have 40 points, for the reasons given below.
The Environmental Health section are able to award disrepair points in instances like this, they can award a maximum of 20 depending on the severity of the problem. It may be possible for Mr Summersell to award points based on what he already knows of your situation or it may be necessary for someone to come out and have another look.
Given the time of year and nature of the problem I would advise that you get it looked at ASAP. With your permission therefore, I will forward this email on to Mr Summersell. He is actually off sick today but I will ask him to contact you as soon as he is back in.

wherediditallgo

I would. You're not losing anything - if you get the extra points that'll help you go further up the housing list (you might still be waiting ages though). In the meantime, ask Environmental Health to contact the landlord to do more to sort out the damp & mould. Four weeks is plenty of time to at least get someone in to look at it, & we haven't had the worst of winter yet.

By the way, did you really send an e-mail to the council that started off with "Hiya"? :eek: