Damp homes, and private tenants

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Harry Bloomfield

Harry Bloomfield

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I saw on the local news, where they were saying about bad private housing, damp etc.. They chose to show film of the damp in one home, which was genuinely horrific - black mould growing in the room corners, black mould growing directly above a radiator. All very obviously the result of the person living there, creating lots of moisture in the room, not allowing any ventilation, and the mould at the radiator due to the wet radiator, never being heated. Why blame the owner, renting the property out, when it's the tenant obviously causing the issue?
 
freddiemercurystwin said:
And you can say that categorically how?
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It was obvious, that it was condensed, out of the internal, far too moist atmosphere. Damp from external sources, lifts wallpaper and paint, doesn't form in, or limit itself necessarily to room corners, and doesn't tend to happen close to heat sources, so why blame the landlord?
 
Murdochcat said:
I’ve seen many self inflicted mould problems in rentals over the years.

A lot of tenants do not understand how VITAL ventilation is in ALL homes
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I've seen a lot of black spot mould. When will miserly Rigsby's get it into their heads to insulate their slums.
 
noseall said:
I've seen a lot of black spot mould. When will miserly Rigsby's get it into their heads to insulate their slums.
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I'm not a landlord, but landlords can only do so much. The great majority of the problem is how the tenants treat the house. I have to set rules and procedures in my own home, to keep it clear of mould. My property, I look after it, do the great majority of the actual work done on it, and so I set rules of use, to minimise the work I need to do, simple as. Generally tenants do not understand, and don't care - they wreck one property, then move on to the next one.

There is a lot of difference, between a house which is intrinsically damp, and one suffering damp resulting from the actions of a tenant.

The comment I heard from the individual whose mould filled home was filmed, was - '...get me another house'
 
Our friend owns two flats that she rents out. Has done so for over 20 years. She said the biggest problem with renters is that they just won’t open the bloody windows. Mrs Mottie airs our house every day for at least 30 minutes whatever the weather.
 
The neighbour's S-i-L spent months doing the place up for her to move in, as the previous owners had lived like animals (with their animals : big, stinking dogs) there.

Before the work started, neighbour's daughter told me that the place was so bad, they were having it fumigated before even starting the renovation.

Move forward a year, and I had cause to carry a heavy parcel in for said neighbour.
The place stinks, this time of her dogs and cats.
Bowls of cat and dog food - with flies - on the kitchen worktops :sick:


Turning a place into a sh!thole is not solely the preserve of renters and tenants.
 
Tenant told me mold was starting asked if he was drying clothes on the rads answered nope.
Went round to investigate 3 rooms upstairs with clothes covering the rads .
Thought you didnt dry clothes on rads
i dont but the girls do :rolleyes::unsure:
 
When I got my first BTL, the first few years were issue free re damp.

New tenants moved in, young couple, after a few months they advised of damp in the bathroom. I visited, sure enough, signs of black mould and damp.

I asked if they ensured the bathroom was well ventilated e.g. after baths, showers etc. The guy worked late in a restaurant and liked to have a shower when he got home. He also advised me his partner had some sort of condition whereby she didn't like the windows open i.e. no drafts or breezes. So, frequently, the bathroom window wasn't opened, indeed none of the windows were.

I advised re importance of ventilation, wiping down surfaces etc. I printed off and gave them a one pager advisory re how to keep on top of it. The guy messaged me x weeks later to say the tips were working. He thanked me for the advice, stating this was their first place and they didn't know about stuff like that.

They've been out for years. Since then, latter tenants have reported no issues with damp. Funny that ;)

p.s. for the usual suspects who are gearing up to reply, let me save you the bother. Are there properties that are damp through no fault of the person living there? Yes. Are there landlords who rent out such properties? Yes. Are there landlords who do nothing to assist tenants as I did above? Yes.

However in many cases, the issue isn't the property itself, it's the people living there and how they live. Fact.
 
Harry Bloomfield said:
one suffering damp resulting from the actions of a tenant.
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Almost all black spot mould is occupancy dependant.

The reason air tight modern houses don't have such a problem with it is because they are so well insulated. You can design out black spot mould. Most Rigsbys would rather spend the rent income on themselves.
 
noseall said:
I've seen a lot of black spot mould. When will miserly Rigsby's get it into their heads to insulate their slums.
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Responsible, legit landlords can't get away without insulating these days. Needs to be an E or better on the EPC to be able to let a place. It will be the Asian slum landlords who have 20 clandestines living in an illegally converted garage at the bottom of their gardens who will get away with it.
 
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