My tenants are moving out and prior to conducting viewings i noticed the plaster in the bedroom wall is swollen from water damage. The tenant said he hadnt noticed and therefore didn’t mention it. This is an internal wall next to the bathroom. I inspected the bathroom and the sealant is filthy and cracked all the way along the bath. This is what is clearly causing the water damage to the bedroom wall.
I have had quotes to redo the sealant and replaster the wall and if come to just over £1000.
Am interested to hear landlords opinion if you would seek to deduct this from the tenant’s deposit. I have a professional inventory done when they moved in two years ago which show the bathroom newly decorated with new sealant. If they had reported this earlier i could have repaired the sealant easily, but due to them not mentioning it, it has caused a lot more damage.
Thanks for your views
When was your last inspection? Needed frequently to pick up on things like this. Sounds like no inspection since moving in 2 years ago?
It is obvious? The initial leak may not have been.
Last inspection about four months ago when i told them (among other things )they needed to clean the bathroom more as mould was starting to get into the sealant. I didnt notice it was not water tight then.
Its obvious now.
That is high quote. What other quote prices?
That mould is excessive.
Thats a high price as Colin says.
Is a large area of plaster coming away from wall or just the visible bit?
mould growing in silicone is very common , I have fitted many bathrooms and used all makes of silicone ,none entirely stopped mould, even in my own home andI have been very carefull.
Extractor in bathroom?
Am still trying to get two of my usual handy men to visit to quote…both currently on holiday. It does feel high to me because it’s only one wall that needs replastering and isnt much longer than a double bed as there is also a door in that wall.
Just the bit visible. Not more than 1m square.
That looks like an old set of taps with a shower fitted by means of a push button . Does it leak? I have never found them to be any good
No the taps don’t leak. The water pressure to the shower is good too. Fitted about 4 years ago.
You dont lose anything by proposing the deduction to the tenant and possibly the deposit scheme, but it may or may not go your way.
I usually dont bother with the professional checkout inventory if i am not planning to claim against the deposit as that is just £150 for nothing. But if i think for these tenants there are quite a few items that have been damaged so it will be worth it. (This being the biggest).
Ive always done my own inventory and check-out. You just have to have a very detailed template and lots of photos.
I always do a professional check in, but only pay for the check out if am planning to claim for damages.
To me, it looks like a bad job was done by the original decorators, combined with the tenants not informing you of the problem in time for you to get it fixed. If you notice the entire joint has blackened, whereas mould typically grows in individual spots, so I query what quality of sealant they used. The bead (the diameter of the sealant) is quite small for the size of the joint so it has come away from the wall because there wasn’t enough sealant to cover the gap and adhere to the surfaces. So personally I don’t think this is so straight forward to argue as if I was them I would say the original seal was poor. However, they should have reported it to you. For things like sealants, which are easy to fix (£10 for a tube of the best quality sealant) you should learn how to do it yourself at least so that you can assess the work of other people. The cost is not the sealant, which is 20-30 minutes work and £20 materials, the cost is the plastering because it takes time for the layers of plaster to dry, but even so that price is high. On the other hand, it is high because nobody really wants to do small jobs like this. In my experience, unless you inspect regularly, most tenants won’t tell you about these kind of problems. A £10 tube of sealant can save £1,000 of repairs if done in time.
How I do a bath fitting job . Get the bath set into wall plaster. Tile down to bath . If a plastic bath put EXTRA supports under it to stop sag and at 45 degrees to keep it into wall. Fill bath with water to keep down. Silicone around. I always fitted metal baths and never had problems
Thank you, that all makes a lot of sense and I agree. I can do the sealant myself, but as you day the majority of the cost of that quote was the plastering. I asked for the quote to just do the plastering and it only came down by £100. I agree they just don’t want to do any small jobs, very hard to get tradesmen in since all the Europeans left.
I have the guy who did the sealant two years ago also coming to quote, but that makes me doubt a bit his workmanship…maybe I’ll specify which sealant. Is there one you find to be superior?