Landlord witholding bond

calculatethis

My sister has moved out of the house where she was renting. It was a very old house with stone walls and badly insulated. During the winter some of the interior walls started to go mouldy and the windows (which were very old, wooden, single glazed) were covered every day in condensation and started to flake paint off. My sister is very house proud and kept the pace spotless and tried to clean the windows etc but they still kept going mouldy. Partly becuase the landlord had painted the walls in a strange sort of gloss paint too that didnt breathe. Part of the reason she wanted to move out was because she didnt want her kids in a mouldy old house!

They had the heating on over the winter and the house was also costing a fortune to heat.

Anyway, the landlord is now witholding £250 of the £500 bond as he says they havent met their terms of the lease in keeping the house properly ventilated and heated! My sis has a massive electricity bill for heating the place, the letting agents are not symapthetic they said she should have been having windows open etc to ventilate the place, and this is why the mould has occurred.

The figure of £250 has just een quoted, there is no evidence about why the landlord is witholding this amount (e.g. no proof that my sis did anything wrong or physically damaged anything)

Is there anything she can do? By the way, she moved out nearly 2 weeks ago, and she hasnt got back ANY of the bond yet, not even the other £250 that she is owed that isnt under dispute.

Debt_Free_Chick

I hate to say this, but

the windows (which were very old, wooden, single glazed) were covered every day in condensation

is generally a sign of lack of ventilation.

Did she have any windows open?

Stone walls don't need insulation - the idea is that moisture passes through the walls.

The fact that the mould only started to appear during the winter, does suggest too much heat without enough insulation - so the LL might have a point.

How long was she there? Was there mould/condensation when she moved in?

silvercar

To be fair, when we had wooden single glazed windows we had condensation on the windows.

By opening the windows everyday the condensation never got mouldy and never spread to the walls.

It does suggest that the property wasn't ventilated properly.

Profesionally cleaning off all the mould is going to cost. If its bad some rooms may need repainting.

calculatethis

She was there just under a year, moved in during the summer and stayed over the winter. The mould has only occurred on the outside walls, upstairs in the bedrooms. The bedrooms just have velux windows (which are right above the radiators) so if she HAD had the windows open any heat would have just gone straight out of the window (during the winter!)

Yes, the walls in a stone house should breathe I agree with that, but he has some sort of wierd paint on the walls apparently.

So the LL is claiming that she didnt adequately heat the place, then also that she didnt ventilate it....how can he possible prove this......could she give the letting agency the electricity bill which clearly showes the amount of electricity used onver the winter. She is fuming because the place actually did cost a fortune to heat!! And she is out all day at work, so why would she be leaving windows open in the winter? Sorry but the fact that he has just "arbitrarily" kept back half her bond, with no breakdown of the figure that he is holding back seems terrible.

silvercar

cold walls, hot radiators = condensation.

The fact that the mould is only on outside walls points to this.

You don't have to have the windows open wide, just enough to allow air to circulate.

If you are out all day, I would have openned the windows wide for 20 minutes before leaving in the morning.

zebulon

we put big blankets (like bed duvet) on the radiators for the few minutes the windows are open

nice to open at the week-end if there is a bit of sun too

zebulon

calculatethis wrote: »

but the fact that he has just "arbitrarily" kept back half her bond, with no breakdown of the figure that he is holding back seems terrible.

true - need to get sorted

Badger_Lady

Did she complain to the letting agent / LL about the mould and condensation?

I obviously don't know what the terms of her lease were, but there's often a clause for "reporting any maintenance issues". If there was a problem with the paint, ventilation, whatever, then it's often the tenant's duty to report it before any further problems (e.g. mould) can occur.

If she reported it and they did nothing about it, she's in the clear. If she just let the problem get worse and worse (and this clause is in her lease), then she is liable for the damage.

P.S. part of "doing something about it" might include asking the tenant to open the windows

calculatethis

Ok, point taken, but this wasnt pointed out when they rented the house, if it was that important to have the windows opened everyday surely they should have stipulated this as some sort of rule when they moved in? I suppose this is what you might learn through experience. Anyway, some of the mould was behind furniture which they only descovered when they moved out, so the problem only became apparent when they moved! The house was so freezing cold apparently as it had rubbish old radiators that it never got too hot.

Im making it sound awful, the problem wasnt THAT bad, it was apparently just on one outside wall in each of the bedrooms. When the letting agent came round to do the final inspection she apparently let slip that they had been meaning to replace the wooden windows and had not bothered and just repainted them...probably just painting over wood that was rotten anyway!

Anyway the LL/letting agency have the money and are obviously not going to hand it back in a hurry. Can she ask for a breakdown of wxactly what the money is for, or ask if she can pay for whatever problem need rectified herself...

calculatethis

she just e mailled me a copy of the lease....

it says....

The Tenant shall be expressly obliged (a) to keep the subjects constantly aired and heated;

So how do they prove that she didnt......she certainly kept it heated. As I mentioned, in the bedrooms there are only velux windows (right above radiators) so quite difficult to have these open all the time!

silvercar

The mould is probably proof that she didn't!

My velux windows have an air-circulating setting. If you pull the horizontal bar down to the first "click", it opens the trickle vent so air can circulate.