UKC

About 3 weeks ago I signed a 1 year tenancy agreement to rent a basement flat in an old Victorian house. It has been newly decorated (white) with new floors etc. After about a week mould started to appear in every room. I have a dehumidifier and a fan going for about 16 hrs a day, this has not stopped it. At the moment the weather is very dry, what the bloody hell is it going to be like in the rainy season??? It seems to be a structural problem to my mind I.e. they should have the walls chemically injected as it below the damp proofing or have a waterproof membrane plastered all-round.
I showed the landlady and she said ’yes we know there is a problem’????????????????????

I am concerned for my health. Who should I inform about this? Should I go to the environmental health to deem the property uninhabitable? I think they would be bastards about giving my deposit back.

Any advice please…thanks.

p.s. There is a lot of mould!!!!!

In reply to poppy-cock: drop me an email, I''f respond within a few days

In reply to sloper:

Great, will do, thanks!!!

In reply to poppy-cock: I look after property in the Lakes on residential tenancies, and don't worry, you don't have to stay the year. All the legal stuff is seriously in your favour. Take some photos, tell them to clean up or you'll move on, and don't worry about your deposit, it doesn't sound like they have a leg to stand on. It doesn't even matter what you've signed! Give them a months' notice and sling yer hook, it's all enshrined in Law. Try C.A.B., since you don't know me from Adam.

In reply to poppy-cock:

I can sympathise. Mould started growing on our bedroom wall October last year. A chap came out and dug a hole on the 28th December last year, leaving a BIG pile of gravel on the patio and a large hole, leaving it unsafe for my daughter to play outside and rendering an outdoor space we intended on using completely useless. Its now June and we got a phone call from our landlady saying that the builder would be round in the next 2 weeks to sort it. Apparently they were letting it dry out! How an exposed wall was supposed to dry out over winter and spring I'll never know. We've demanded a date of fix in writing and have been advised by the CAB (nice people btw, worth a visit)to claim compensation for the loss of use of the room for over 6 months and the outside space.

Had the same thing in a London basement - the law is on your side, google for damp & tennancy etc, there is loads of info

Basically GET OUT as fast as you can, mould will seriously affect your health & ruin all your stuff. My GF nearly died from an asthma attack soon after the mould got going in our flat. The previous tennants had flooded the place, landlord just ran round with a paintbrush & rented it straight out..

If there is any hassle get the CAB or a lawyer onto the landlord make their life hell.

In reply to poppy-cock: Don't know about the legal side of it (sloper will help I'm sure) but the health side is a big issue. I had a damp flat in London many years back and suffered constantly with asthma until I got out. Move soon.

In reply to all:

I went to the housing dept in our council offices this morning to find the contact details of the environmental health. I explained the stuation to them and they said it would be worth checking with the planning department to see what conversion applications had been submitted...there has been none for the property and there are 6 flats. I then went to the council tax dept to check if council tax is paid on all 6 flats and yes it is (as proof of conversion). My landlords are gits!

In reply to poppy-cock:

When i'm not climbing I design structural waterproofing systems for Trace Basement Systems www.tracebasementsystems.co.uk and also give Royal Institute of British Architects approved continual professional development lectures on waterproofing to practices of Architects nationwide.

If you would like to have a chat about the problem and find out more about what is happening and why, please feel free to give me a call on 0800 3899040. I can certainly advise as to what not to accept in terms of remedial measures that may be presented to you.

As for the problem in a nutshell, when a basement is converted, adequate thought must be given to insulation of all surfaces (required when designing to BS8102 Protection of Structures Against Water from the Ground), particularly those which are retaining. The soil externally is generally a cool temperature and presses up against your basement walls which results in the walls adopting this cool temperature.

It may have been dry recently but it has also been very humid. Humidity + cold surfaces = condensation which is likely causing the problem. There is also the issue of groundwater but I'll go into that if you want to speak.

James Hockey
Trace Basement Systems

In reply to Jay218:

Thanks for the chat James, most informative as to the extent and options of rectifying the problem.

To find out that 18% of UK moulds are toxic is worrying tho!!!

Cheers

In reply to poppy-cock:

I've pointed a friend who's a landlord/letting agent for flats at the thread, to see if he has any recommendations.

my thought is: move! My mum ended up with what she thought was persistent bronchitis when she lived in very damp student housing in Leeds in the sixties, but it turned out to be myocarditis and she's had heart problems for the last 10 years. eek.

In reply to poppy-cock:

No problem !

Further info is in the post.

Regards,
James

In reply to CJD:

Cheers, i am building quite an armoury of info! Any more info is welcome.

UKC is one bloody helpful place...even without JCT!
Cheers All.

In reply to poppy-cock:

J218 is absolutely right in terms of what’s going on with the flat, sounds like they have seen the opportunity to get another flats worth of income out of the building, but just bodged it, i.e. not tanked it or put a membrane in plus no insulation so cold walls humid air = condensation.

We have been on the receiving end of things like this with properties we manage. Sometimes it can be cured fairly easily if and we have arranged to put people up in a hotel for a week while work is carried out and arranged for compensation. This however sounds like a full hit, and you are not going to be out of the flat for a week while they knock off a bit of plaster/dam proof and make good.

If you want out, get the environmental health in to assess the problem. If it is as bad as you say they will deem it uninhabitable and will issue a notice to the Landlord to carry out and complete works within 14 to 28 days (can’t remember) if they do not they will organise a contractor to do it and bill the landlord usually at an extortionate price that your landlord will not want to pay. This is a legal notice and they will be on your landlords’ case two days after the notice is issued to see whether they have arranged for works to commence. They will also fight your side as to what you are supposed to do while the works are carried out. Seeing as the problem is so extensive you will clearly need to be re-housed for several weeks, therefore the landlord will have no option but to release you from your contract, if there is a problem with the deposit scream blue murder with a solicitors letter, inform environmental health and get your man from the CAB to give them a call. Chances are they will just pay up so you go away rather than take the risk of court action, damages, money towards expenses incurred moving to a new home which you will be awarded if it goes to court.

Hope this helps

I would like to point out that although I have been in the Landlords position in situations like this I am not a scum bag landlord. I am the person/company in the middle who gets shouted at from both sides and has to sort it out. You are in the right here and any sensible landlord will hold his hand in the air, help find you a new flat and assist in the move, and get the flat sorted out. Unfortunately they are not that common; when people become landlords they take on an “I am god” attitude and become so tight that if you crammed a lump of coal up their arse you would have a diamond in a week.

In reply to pieweb:

>become so tight that if you crammed a lump of coal up their arse you would have a diamond in a week

FANTASTIC, quote of the week stuff.

In reply to sutty:

I believe Mr Pieweb annexed it from the glorious film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, isn't that right Mr Pieweb?

In reply to sutty:

I would love to take credit for that but its from a film. very fitting for some of the tight gits i deal with..

none existent prize for anyone who knows which film its from

In reply to pieweb:

beaten to it was about to add to that post CJD need not answer

In reply to pieweb:

ha haaaa

In reply to pieweb:

not only did CJD get the answer but she got the answer before you even asked the question! How clever is she!??! (Or rather, who watches too much TV??)

In reply to TN:

Ferris Bueller rules!

Pieweb's a bit of a fan of it too as I recall.

In reply to TN:

I wouldn’t mind but CJD has only recently been introduced to the world of moving pictures in her own home, for many years she had a card board box with a roll of paper thread through it and was threatening to sue TV Licensing for harassment

In reply to pieweb:

PS thread has been proper hijacked from serious discussion

In reply to poppy-cock:

I also have a situation whereby the bottom six inches or so of the paint on the walls in my (rather small) utility room and shower room downstairs are obviously damp and the paint is falling off. Odd spots of black appear on the bathroom walls which wash off easily but hadnt really considered this a health problem so far. Should I be concerned?