Posted a while ago that we have been plagued with issues since our current tenants moved into our house, the latest being an issue with a leaking shower which resulted in us agreeing to have the stud wall between the en-suite and the bedroom rebuilt due to black mould inside the wall.
We’ve now found out that due to no ducting for the extractor fan from the en-suite, the black mould has taken hold of the insulation in the loft. I’ve offered to go round and remove the mouldy loft insulation (with care) but have said that at present I’m not able to commit to replacing it and will look at replacing the insulation after in the new year (firstly as I’d like to give the loft the chance to dry out before introducing brand new insulation, but also because I simply cannot afford it at the moment).
Tenant isn’t happy with us just removing the insulation and is seeking his own advice (he believes there is a legal requirement for loft insulation, I disagree).
Just looking for some guidance from you all to see if I have to replace the insulation immediately.
You certainly need to take it out.to allow the roof to dry out. If you cannot afford a few rolls insulation, suggest you get out of renting ,if a major problem comes up you are stitched A landlord needs a decent amount of cash for such events
Yeh agree we definitely need to get the mouldy insulation out and I’m certainly not disputing that.
We had a cushion of money (a few thousand) but that’s all been obliterated by the issues that have been coming one after the other since the tenants moved in. In the last 7 weeks we have spent nearly £5k).
Ive no issue with replacing the insulation in the new year but work (at my day job) is already at its most stressful and busiest during the Christmas period so I wouldn’t have time to put insulation in myself, and our handyman wants over £300 just to remove the mouldy insulation (not including the disposal), and I can’t justify paying for a skilled person to roll out some insulation when it’s something I can do myself in the new year. If I were to spend anymore on the house this side of Christmas, it would mean our kids missing out on Christmas and I’m not willing for that to happen.
Wow you are talking about Christmas and you will do something in the new year. As you possibly may know mould is a type of fungus that grows in damp areas. It releases spores that can be harmful when breathed in. Mould and damp are found in buildings where there is excess moisture, poor ventilation and/or lack of sunlight. So let’s just hope your tenant that pays to live in a healthy safe environment gets through Christmas…just saying…
I think you need to replace asap. If you make a change to property that impacts energy efficiency you need to get a new epc. It is a legal requirement to have at least a epc rating of E which you wouldn’t be able to evidence if you take out the insulation without replacing it so you could be setting yourself up for big issues.
I think tenants are being reasonable, with energy prices where they are its understandable they aren’t happy given it’ll be coldest time of year.
You will want to schedule an insulation removal soon as you notice mould growth in your insulation. A professional should remove the mould ridden insulation properly and safely as it will come back. After you’ve removed the compromised insulation, it’s time to install new insulation. Not wait until the new year.
Show willing. You have already done that but it concerns me that you were not aware of all the mould problems before now. This is something that should have been addressed last summer.
Offer to pick up half the tenants heating bill for the next month. (Meter readings will cover your back).
Get the loft insulation out ASAP.
Get the place dried out especially the loft. I had a similar problem last year and I additional loft vents installed and then I ran a powerful fan in the loft for about six hours. This drove out all the moisture in the loft as was evidenced by a visual inspection.
Loft insulation is cheap. It’s the labour that costs the money. In addition, absolutely no tradesman is going to do as good a job as you will do your self. It takes a few hours spread across a few days. I vacuumed the loft before I installed the new insulation.
Buy far more insulation that the regulations require.
Can you tenant provide any direct or indirect assistance I wonder?
Do the tenants understand the need to ventilate the place and how?
Install a Envirovent Silent 100 with a PIR (18 Watts when on) in the bathroom with a suitable 4 inch vent pipe either through the roof (My favourite), an outside wall, or the eaves. Do not use a humidity version. You want the Envirovent to run every time anyone goes near it for any reason. It is virtually silent, costs about £80 and at 18 Watts just needs a convenient electrical feed. You can adjust the “on” time but you may be able to position it so that anyone passing the open bathroom door will trigger it in which case it will require no adjustment.
Others may dispute my opinions but that is what I have done, everyone was happy and it worked at minimum cost.
You can prove to the tenant that the running costs of an Envirovent Silent 100 are really too small to measure despite the efforts of Mr Putin and others from about 30 minutes information gathering on the internet.
The regs require an isolation switch on the fan but this can be located outside the bathroom up high where it is less likely to be operated by the tenant in the mistaken belief that they will see a reduced electricity bill that is, in practice, too small to detect.
Depending on your judgement of the tenant, you may decide to not tell them what the switch actually does. They may simply ignore it or forget that it is there. My own tenants are unaware of the switch.
I have installed three of these Envirovents.
They are specifically designed for landlords.
The have no earth because there is nothing apart from a termination point to connect an earth to. The thing is double insulated and thus there is nothing to conduct electricity in the casing.
They have no requirement for an on/off switch in normal use (Just an isolation switch). So the tenant has nothing to do for it to function.
Thanks for all the opinions on here, it’s been really helpful.
To address your comment here Paul, the mould problem was caused by the shower leaking inside a stud wall. The shower leaking wasn’t something we were aware of as there were no signs of it leaking and the house was empty for 4 months prior to the tenant moving in. It was only as the tenant began using the shower, the leak became apparent via the living room ceiling below. My thinking is that the leak may have been a slow trickle when the shower wasn’t in use, and much worse when water was being pumped to the shower in use.
The extractor fan looks to have blown mould from inside the stud wall into the loft causing the mould in the loft so again is nothing we would have known about (it certainly wasn’t mouldy when we did our checks before the tenant moved in).
Unfortunately, it’s just one of those things and it’s just come at the wrong time financially after the catalog of issues we’ve had already. We don’t personally have the time to install loft insulation ourselves (Christmas is our busiest period at work and I end up working 16 hours a day most days between now and Christmas), however, the mouldy insulation has already been removed and we’ve come to a mutually satisfactory agreement with the tenant regarding the replacement insulation which has also now been installed (we have incidentally had much better spec insulation installed than necessary). I did ask the installer to spray mould killer in the loft before laying the new insulation as it was all removed and installed in one day so I’m hoping he has done that otherwise he will be on the hook for new insulation a second time round.
Thanks for the recommendation for a new envirovent. I will look that up and will get that installed in the new year.
Yes you are obviously quite right.
Either you leave the thing out, rely on your tenant’s judgement or just accept the consequences of the tenant turning it off.
There is only so much that one human being can do for another.
But another possibility is that they neither notice, remember or care.
So, there you have it.