Could anyone advise where in the OR contract the landlord is protected against vexatious complaints from the tenant please?
Recent complaint re rising damp & refused access by tenant who demanded a full damp survey has cost me over £350 with outcome blaming internal condensation.
what kind of protection are you seeking?
Hoping to reclaim the expense of a damp survey forced on me by the tenant which found no problems.
I think that might be difficult and I can’t see how any contract would allow you to pursue compensation for that. You obviously approved the survey and its expense. It sounds to me as if you yourself weren’t clear what the issue was although, to be fair, there isn’t a huge amount of detail to go on in your posts.
No agency will ever be able to indemnify a landlord against tenant behaviour.
Do you not have access to the contract to read it?
If a tenant reports damp in your property, I think it’s more than reasonable for you to assess the cause and any risk to your asset, and cover the associated costs.
Hi @Sandy200915 I hink tenant has worried about damp and rightly called you to get you to investigate. You would be more upset if they hadnt called and let damp problems persist.
But if they have refused you reasonable access to investigate yourself (eg with a builder or someone who knows about damp in buildings) and only allowed damp specialists in then they may have breached tenancy agreement. It is you as LL not them who is responsible for investigating and repairing. What recourse you have depends on what tenancy says but ultimately breaches of the agreement can allow you to end the agreement and evict them.
You have paid for investigation which has revealed issue is internal condensation. If that issue has not occurred previously and reports indicates solution is better tenant behaviour through properly ventilating the property then you should a) set that out in writing and b) check what tenancy agreement says about both reporting issues promptly and about keeping property properly ventilated.
IF they have breached agreement through not ventilating properly and damage and remedial investigation has resulted you may be able to charge them for repairs etc or take something out of deposit I ‘think’.
But I think the important point is to make them understand they can’t withhold reasonable access to you or others on your behalf to investigate and carry out repairs (providing you give them suitable notice etc). And that if they breach that or other requirements of the tenancy you will need to consider giving them notice.
Good luck!
Thank you for your response.
After being denied access and various accusations of letting a damp property, I felt forced into spending over £300 in a damp survey which came back negative. High levels of internal humidity was found however.
I will be seeking financial compensation from the tenant and seriously considering S21 whilst I still can. If I don’t do anything, the vexatious complaints will continue. 
So, there’s more than one complaint? Not just about damp?
If you are going to seek compensation, on what basis do you think you will be successful? I’ve been a landlord a while, and I can’t think how you will be able to get compensation if the T doesn’t agree to it. I’m only raising this because you say you’re also considering S21. If you do pursue that and a compensation claim which I can only see would fail, things could go from bad to worse.
If there’s clear evidence of damp related damage (why else did tenant insist on damp survey) which wasn’t shown in inventory photos, and damp survey says cause is lack of ventilation, and tenancy agreement says that’s tenants responsibility, then ‘may’ be possible to claim for damage and/or cost of investigating from deposit
But agree id think priority probably getting them to leave and handover keys leave in good condition etc so even tho feels unfair may not be worth trying to get back except maybe via part of deposit after they have actually left
Mental health issues involved, ie perceived problems rather than actual problems and using faults as attention seeking.
Legally, I have to take all damp complaints seriously although feeling sore at the expense.
Yes, that’s being serious about your landlord responsibilities. And look on the bright side. Had there actually been a damp issue, you could be looking at £1000+ worth of work and perhaps the property being uninhabitable for a period too.
I don’t think any mileage in trying to claim back the cost of the survey. There may be high humidity due to drying washing in the property etc. It may be down to the tenants ignorance of how to manage the property rather than vexatious. I don’t think there could ever be a clause about vexatious claims. Whether a claim is vexatious would be have to settled in court. It’s not something you can decide unilaterally.
Next time insist on having a look yourself. If they say no, keep asking (by email) and keep a record of your requests. If they are obstructing the matter being dealt with then they can’t really blame you. You might still have had to get a survey but at least you would have had a better handle on whats going on.
One thing I have found effective is to install DMEV - ie extractor fans that run all the time at low level and scale up when RH is high. They cost about £100 +installation and definitely reduce RH. A lot less than the cost of a survey if its just replacment of existing..
I so sympathise. I have a flat that I lived in for 5 years and didnt have w problem with damp, but now with multiple tenants there have been issues with damp. It is due to tenant behaviour; they don’t ventilate, they dry washing indoors, they don’t heat sufficiently.
I installed a washer drier, trickle vents, two dehumidifiers and provided clear advice on using the bathroom fan, drying the walls after a shower, regularly using the dehumidifiers and where possible drying clothes outside on the line or using the dryer. This still didn’t entirely resolve the issue. My last tenant, from Australia demanded a damp survey saying this was coming from the outside, rising damp etc. I explained it was condensation. They wouldn’t have it so in the end to keep them happy i paid for a damp survey. Which of course said the issue was condensation. They then started using the dehumidifiers and it was fine for the rest of the tenancy.
This is always a stress and a cause of conflict so after the last set of tenants i invested in a ‘heat recovery ventilation system’, it basically runs the whole time circulating the air, is energy efficient and forces ventilation in the flat so you are no longer relying on tenant behaviour. A damp company quoted me about £3.5k for it but by buying the devices online and using a local installer i halved that cost and so far it seems to have finally solved this issue.
Might be worth considering if you repeatedly get the same issues.