A survey was done and the vast majority of mould was found to be caused by tenants themselves. Heat Ventilation Dehumidifier, bleach all solves most mould. It’s quite shameful the mother does not use all these remedies to protect her son’s health. As this is ongoing I would look at S21. I’ve had to get rid of tenants who caused over 7k of severe mould damage, gave them multiple warnings in writing. Never had mould before or after in this property.
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My sister is a private tenant and although I would consider her a clean person, for some reason she has a blindspot about mould. It grows around the ensuite shower where the ceiling is coming away because her two teenage boys don’t like to open the window when they shower and have no idea about ventilation after showering. Of course, neither would ever bother to clean the mould. I’m afraid this is quite normal behaviour for a lot of people.
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I used to rent NHS accommodation in the good old days
There were 40 of us in an HMO sharing two showers, one of which a male nurse used as his urinal so everybody tried to use the mouldy one instead !!
The shower was black
They had a cleaner but she only collected the rubbish and spent the rest of the time watching tv in the mess
I remember calling my mum and asking her what to do she told me to pour bleach all over it
I had to do it twice on two consecutive nights and domestos was £2 a bottle in Paddington 25 years ago ( shopping was £15 a week do that was a lot of money to my small budget )
We woke up to a white shower
What’s astonishing is all those medical and nursing staff never took the initiative , some of whom had been there for several years !
I was the first person to bother to clean it
Nout as queer as folk
People get used to a new normal and don’t question they just accept it
It’s bizarre
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You mean the shower is not a urinal? Well you learn something new all the time
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It’s a big subject. you will find that different “experts” will advise different solutions angled towards their own interests so get a few. they can easily check where damp is coming from
simply put
1 it can be rising damp in which case you need to tank it, this works well. tenant needs to be elsewhere for a week or two on holiday or get new tenant
2. is water coming in from guttering or leaky pipe in or out of the house , mortar failed, central heating pipe from next door or wherever
3. is it ventilation? if so make 4" core fill with insulation on put vent covers on, tenant normally tapes this shut. add a continuous running fan with humidistat , if outside cute 40mm off the bottom of the door, are tenants drying clothes on radiators, if so educate, maybe get dehumidifier
you better watch out because if the tenant involves the council they can give you a world of headaches, many council people love to give landlords a hard time so if need be spend money.
PS I guess you have proper heating in here, a good radiator on an outside wall is well worth having. its not to hard to resite a radiator. presume good double glazing, again with a vent if possible
but as you say, tenants will tape up ventilation, not turn on heating, never open windows…then blame landlords
It happens when families or individuals don’t like the windows being opened. Many people including pets breath out moisture which then accumulates on walls. A bedroom that had a serious looking treadmill, mother and daughter always using bedroom and no windows opens will cause this. New tenant who likes fresh air is the answer!