How binding or protective is my tenancy agreement in this matter?
Situation:
Time check 3:51 am, awake holding my son who is wheezing helplessly. It’s sad that I may have to call ambulance if he does get any better or if morning doesn’t come soon for me to take him out of house.
Via open rent, I rented & moved into new property 6days ago, immediately got respiratory symptoms (breathing difficulty), next day it was my son who is under 5. I managed symptoms with sprays and inhalers, we were managing fairly, till tonight when I it’s worsened and all sprays won’t give any relief.
I happily moved into this property until I set out to find answers to the new respiratory symptoms. I found that
paint easily comes off when one brushes against/touches wall (allergen identified here)
inside of radiators heavily covered with dust (still bringing myself on how to start this cleaning, well knowing my allergy issues and that I’ll be dealing with a real allergen here).
I’m asking for kind advice on how to handle this matter, given the life long health risks involved here. As a health professional, I understand the magnitude of this risk and wouldn’t like my self and son exposed to these allergens any longer.
I’ll be in touch with landlord first thing in morning to discuss the issue.
To what extent does the paint come away, is this all the wall or wood work or localised to a small area?
The dusty radiators is just a cleaning issue which can easily be resolved. However the paint issue is unusual and may take a lot of upheaval to be able to sort out the problem.
Maybe there’s particles floating around because of recent prepping for painting?
Radiators often have a metal grill on top which needs removing before can be cleaned effectively. In fairness not many cleaners would ever go to this extent as it involves dissembling.
In the first instance landlord should be contacted and should be given chance to arrange for a solution to the problems.
Can the problem room be avoided ? Can you stay somewhere else temporarily? Without understanding the full extent of the paint issue it would be hard for anyone to gauge if this constitutes being a risk in itself. Unless the paint is disturbed it would not be releasing particles into the air?
Maybe some air purifiers left on can bring it under control until the source of problem is fixed.
Is the property damp? Is there any mould? If not then I doubt if the paint is causing a problem unless it is extremely old or you have a particular paint allergy.
If either you or your son suffer from extreme allergies then you may be no better off anywhere else.
Thank you for your response @Mark10.
I have contacted the Landlord and they promised to get in touch later today.
The paint issue is for all walls in the house, so no where to hide! I unfortunately don’t have anyone or anywhere to go to temporarily (trust me I would be out of here by now).
Thanks for the suggestion of an air purifier for a temporary solution to the problem. I should purchase this asap.
Thanks @David122. There is no damp mould at the property.
However of concern is that these symptoms started within or just after 24hours of occupying the property, and have only gotten worse with each day.
My son doesn’t go to school at the moment so whatever allergen is causing his respiratory symptoms is within his current environment.
Further to that I have been away to work only once and immediately I returned to the house, the itchiness & congestion in my nose, chest pains and tightness that followed gave me a clue to search for the source of exposure and that’s when I discovered the heavy dust covering inside the radiators.
to clean the inside of a radiator I have used the following > a brush draught excluder slim one and a brushed itumescent strip that you normally use on fire doors . works a treat
If paint is coming off the walls then its possible that the plasterwork has a higher than usual moisture content, which could indicate rising damp or water ingress somewhere. You’d need a moisture meter to confirm this.
Contact building forensics UK LTD if you need a specialist in Mould, they do reports on behalf of tenants for landlords, I suspect if you’re paying alot of rent and it’s worth it.
Most likely landlord has repainted over damp walls or could be untanked if it’s a basement and you are seeing paint flake of the walls due to serious about of water ingress.