Hi. I have been renting my 3 bed, terrace house for 12 years. I have never had any problems with damp in the rooms but my current tenants won’t heat the house. They do ventilate but because there is no heat, there are now damp stains at the top of the walls in the bedrooms and the wooden floorboards in the hallway floor are now coming up. I know tenants can live in a property as they wish for the duration of the tenancy but if the way they live is damaging the structure of my house, is there anything I can do during the tenancy to make them maintain the property and prevent damage?
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You can only evict them. If the tenants have not notified you in writing of the damp, you can use s21, but do it quick.
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Thank you. They haven’t notified me officially in writing but they are on a fixed term tenancy so I might have to wait until the break clause. They started a new contract on 30 Sep 23.
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This is an example of why many landlords only give 6 month fixed terms and then let it go periodic.
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Hear, hear! And, if I may add, don’t put rent review clause in tenancy agreement.
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Just wondering any specific reason for not doing this?
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I would notify them in writing that they are in breach of their contract and that you will attend in a few days to make sure that they are heating the property adequately.
If not, evict them. It is still possible of an AST although you have to collect evidence.
In the meantime, as a measure to halt the problem, install moisture extractor fans that run directly on the mains power (that the tenant cannot turn off). It will be very efficient and a moderate cost of a few hundred quid.
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Thank you. I suppose my problem is that it is difficult to say that all the problems are 100% related to lack of heat. They say they are heating the property. If I ran moisture extractor fans from the mains, they presumably they would get the bill. The reason they aren’t heating the property is because of the cost of heating. I’ll have to think about the way best to talk to them about it again. Thanks for your advice.
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The extractor fans are £1-£2 to run each month so not a problem financially.
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Extractor fans don’t work when it is cold and the temperature drops below the dew point when the air loses its ability to hold water and dumps it all onto the coldest surface available, usually a window. In that case you need dehumidifiers, or keep a minimum heating level to avoid dew point being crossed. And the dehumidifiers need to be run all day so that by night time the
Humidity level has dropped before dew point is reached.
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Hi.do u have any other properties available?arevuna landlord private?
Sorry. No, I am just renting out my own house while I work abroad. I only have the one property.
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Thank you. That is good to know.
This is why I fit the virtually silent Envirovent fans.
They have no on/off switch unless you fit one.
(Fitting one is a legal requirement but the trick is to not fit it in the bathroom and the tenant’s will almost certainly not notice.)
I had one tenant that suggested that I install a switch to turn off the extractor fan in the bathroom. A really lovely person whom I would instantly have back in the future if they approached me.
So I sent a detailed, accurate and independently verifiable assessment of the running costs of the fan including power consumption whilst it was running and I input that data into a internet algorithm that took into account Mr Putin’s expected impact on the cost of electricity in the approaching winter.
The answer came out as a few pence per hour.
Now take into account that the fan only runs when someone is in the bathroom.
I pointed out that if the fan were disabled, then black mould would be the inevitable result.
Result: Everyone happy. All done. No problem. 
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