My partner and I, during the inspection of the rental property we signed a contract for, starting in August, noticed the presence of mold on the walls and mattress of one room, and curtains of two different rooms. This causes me to cough when I spend more than 2h in the apartment and we cannot move in until the situation is resolved.
We understand that the landlord will be inspecting the reported rooms next week.
We would like to request:
1- That the inspection be conducted by professionals specialized in mold remediation or a construction contractor.
2- As we are currently paying rent, we would like to request a reduction for this month as we are unable to move into the property yet.
A lot of the time, mould is caused by the behaviour of tenants.
Putting furniture against outside walls, not opening windows, drying clothes on radiators, not wiping down bathroom tiles after showering, not opening the bathroom window or letting the extractor fan run.
They don’t recognise their duty to ventilate the property, and then blame the landlord.
I’m not sure if some qualified expert is needed to inspect and identify the cause of the mould in your rental. Any tradesman could tell you what’s causing it - and whether the landlord is even at fault.
Sounds like you signed contract before inspecting the place yourselves. So you can’t delay anything, the contract is live and it is a remediation issue. How you got yourself into this situation is your fault. But a reasonable landlord should be able to sort it out with you.
But that makes no sense as if you signed in August then the mould season is well and truly over by then, mould should not grow in summer as the temperature is higher so the dew point in the air is always exceeded and water cannot form inside the house. This is why you don’t see condensation in summer in the UK. So this means the cause of the mould is something else very strange… especially as you notice it on soft furnishings. If on the walls, and the walls are at ground level, then it could be rising damp. But how it could get on the soft furnishings is a mystery unless you simply didn’t notice last time. Any landlord trying to rent a place with an abviously mouldy mattress (once he/she has seen with own eyes) would be a rogue landlord, the place would not pass the habitable conditions. If they refuse to remediate, which includes immediately buying new mattress and washing the curtains, then move on because they are rogues. You also have option of reporting them to the council for not providing habitable accomodation. The key thing is to get to the root cause of why mould is appearing in summer, it can only be a water leak, stuff left over from winter, or rising damp. If the landlord shows no interest in getting to the root then either get out or report them.
I think it has to depend on the extent of the mold and whether you have an atypical physical reaction to the presence of mold and if so whether you told the landlord when you first viewed the property.
We viewed a flat yesterday and there was mould on the inside walls and kitchen cupboards. The letting agent said it was the tenants fault. They said they would sort it before we moved in but im wary as we rented a precious flat that always had it. I cant see how they can let people view in that state
Totally agree poor ventilation by the tenant has been an issue in my property with two tenants out of six. Particularly when they are drying washing indoors. I have just had to treat the mould around every window and replace the chrome bathroom down lights as they were totally rusted from poor ventilation.
My property was previously my parents home and they lived there for twenty years without a sign of mould
Why did you sign a contract for a property in that state that you are unable to cope with / live in it?
It’s not a question of fault, since the new tenants (Luke2) have not moved in yet.
You can ask the landlord for a consideration, but I believe you are legally liable for the rent if you’ve already signed the TA, especially since the problem was evident at the time of signing.
You don’t mention any agreement for the landlord to effect remedial works prior to your occupation.
Your only other option would be to take legal action to terminate your contract on the grounds of an unsanitary property, if it’s that bad.
I would suggest you give the landlord a fair opportunity to inspect and advise their proposed solution before you go off ‘demanding’ solutions, particularly if there was no agreement at the time of signing the TA.
Simple, you make an application and pay your holding deposit with a covering letter to confirm the agents / landlords undertaking to remedy the problem. Sign the TA when you move in, assuming it is then acceptable, if it isn’t walk away and demand the refund of your holding deposit.
If you don’t want to take the risk of it being acceptable when you are all set to move in, look elsewhere.
Its virtually always the tenants fault for not ventilating but the LL could be complicit too by not having functioning extractor fans,oven hoods or not providing a condensing tumble dryer. Ground floor flats are the worse especially if there is no bathroom window or kitchen window . Tenants cant leave their windows open when they are out with ground floor properties .
Ground floor flats aren’t quite the worst. They’re better than lower-ground or basement flats!
I am turning down scores of viewing requests from sharers for a flat whose bedrooms and windowless bathroom are at lower-ground level.
I know if it goes to two sharers, they’ll keep their bedroom doors closed and won’t open their windows at the same time (if at all), so there will never be a chance for the natural airflow that these rooms need.
As a consequence they’ll find it gets muggy and they have to run dehumidifiers the whole time. Then they’ll complain bitterly to me about the noise and cost. Or they won’t bother and it’ll be damp and mould that they complain about.
So I’m hoping to let to a couple, who’ll use one room as bedroom, the other as an extra, and keep doors and windows open.
I’m not having any luck so far though, as the couples seem to have better options. Many landlords seem to favour them over sharers, for a variety of reasons !
Hi Chris, thank you for your reply.
The agency representing the landlord informed me last week that they were evaluating the situation with their contractor.
However, the contractor is this week unavailable due to illness so now we are waiting for the contractor for almost two weeks.
Based on the pictures they sent to the contractor, they concluded there was no mould in the apartment. A painter will paint the ‘non-mouldy’ wall next week.
Do you think it’s fair to conclude this without viewing it in person?
The apartment is not a basement or ground floor and we didn’t notice the mould because the wasn’t when we viewed the apartment two months ago. We were really surprised.
Hi Graham, thank you for your reply.
The landlord seems to be interested in solving the problem by replacing the items affected by the mould and evaluating the situation with their contractor.
The items were removed but the contractor was unavailable to view the apartment this week due to illness.
Based on the pictures the agency sent him, they concluded there was no mould on the wall although it’s full of light grey spots. A painter will paint the ‘non-mouldy’ wall probably next week.
Is this the appropriate way to handle the issue?
We had a problem with a newly converted basement flat. They can suffer from low ventilation. Partly tenant but always gray. If it is well sealed and new windows its quite difficult to adequately ventilate. We also installed a newton damp control system (for rising damp) and apparently that can increase condensation!
We installed two Kair smart fans (DMEV) and two passive inlet ventilators and the problem was completely solved. Everyone happy. I now install those as a routine, even if there is little or no damp. They run continuously and so ensure ventilation. They ramp up when the humidity increases.
