Wednesday 22 February 2012

It's Getting Damp In Here

It’s like having your very own private Eden Centre in the lounge. New forms of lush flora bloom on walls, while nearby a pretty waterfall cascades softly into a babbling stream.

Many rented places inflict one horrendous problem on unhappy occupants: damp. This ranges from rivulets flowing down walls and mould growing on everything, to a little condensation and a few discreet dark patches in the shower.

Damp has an impact on owner occupiers too - this isn’t just a problem for renters. But tenants cannot make the repairs necessary to alleviate the situation, and landlords seem to forget they own the place, even if they lived in it previously or intend to do so again. In many cases, they’ve even painted over the worst so that prospective tenants have no idea about the horrors incubating beneath five layers of emulsion.

Try contacting the letting agent and they will generally redirect the problem hurtling it right back to blaming the tenant, and often don’t even raise this with the owner. Landlords claim that drying laundry on radiators causes damp. Well, it’s hard to know where else laundry will dry without garden access and no utility room, especially with energy being so expensive, even if the landlord provides a washer-dryer.

And yes, condensation alone does count as damp (I have this on good authority from bigwigs in the world of Environmental Health.) You can’t expect tenants to install vents, because they might face being penalised with deposit deductions for making such a substantial change to the property.

Landlords generally require tenants to leave windows open (one word: burglary) and blame failure to do this in winter for the mushrooms, the stench of decay and rotting textiles rather than not properly converting the place.

In hermetically sealed newbuilds with double glazing but no garden and no drying area, what are tenants supposed to do when the weather is so bad it rains for forty days and nights? It goes back to reasonable behaviour and good design (there should always be a place to hang clothes indoors) and hanging your jeans on the radiator should not cause an entire new eco-system to grow on the walls.

It’s one argument every renter dreads, causing a ping pong of blame played out with emails, letters and recriminations, with the owner finding reasons to load it all on the tenant and avoid paying, while tenants (unless they have installed an open steam room in the lounge) are unable to do much about condensation, and are left thinking: if I owned this building, I would pay for the repairs that will make this house last longer (damp destroys the very fabric.)

Apart from the fact that it’s miserable and disgusting to find clothes and belongings covered in revolting fungus, the health consequences are well-documented. And yet landlords skimp on extractors, providing cheap crappy examples, repeatedly blaming tenants by using logical somersaults that defy belief.

It’s simple: really really simple. Landlords hear me now: damp is not the tenants fault. It just isn’t.

15 comments:

Tesco Value Chef said...

I had an estate agent in here valuing the place the other day. To my astonishment he asked me if there were any problems with the flat, so I talked about the damp. There was still condensation about a third of the way up the windows, even though it was 11:00 and I'd opened them as soon as I got up. I told him that every flat in the building was the same (I've discussed it with other residents). I try to keep on top of the mould that grows on the walls, but I was able to show him a few patches that had grown back since my last blitz.

I told him I loved the flat, loved the location, but (if I was a prospective buyer) I'd never dream of buying it unless the damp problem was fixed.

His response: "It's only condensation."

RenterGirl said...

It could drive you crazy. I would tell anyone viewing it, but then as owners they'll be able to do the repairs which will solve the problem. Mould. Yuk.

Ralph Musgrave said...

No condensation in my house. I live in an old end terraced house and spend £10 a week on heating. I ventilate the bathroom thoroughly for two minutes after having a bath. I never leave saucepans boiling: that’s just plain stupid. E.g. when boiling potatoes, bring them to the boil, then turn off the heat altogether, and leave them for five minutes: they’ll still cook.

RenterGirl said...

Good plan Ralph. But...what if you don't have a bathroom window? (As many newbuilds/conversions don't.)Or your landlord has painted the windows shit (as one of mine did.) Or have installed appalling extractor fans?

Anonymous said...

Alas my entire (rented) flat is painted shit.

RenterGirl said...

Anon: so hoping you didn't omit the word 'with' from that sentence, as that smacks of some sort of dirty protest.

Anonymous said...

eIn my last flat I battled with damp (was there for four years). Regularly had to clean window frames and wallpaper of mould. When I moved out the letting agency (who were generally very pleasant to deal with) said "Can you tell us if the flat still has a problem with damp" - my reply: "Yes, the problem you never mentioned to me until today".

RenterGirl said...

I am not surprised, but appalled that this can sorted and remedied.

space cadet said...

What do you think the solution is RG? The long-term design one? Especially in flats? I'm struggling to think of one!

In Glasgow's tenements i've noticed they have those old fashioned wooden racks that hoik up the ceiling; but they are usually in the kitchen, which brings its own issues with smells of course. I've always thought it must be a bit comedy too, when your jeans drip dry on your head?

RenterGirl said...

Vents. Vents and proper extractor fans, and bathrooms with windows that open, and cheaper better heating. Those things are called 'maidens' BTW and they seem like the clothes might smell of cooking.

Emma said...

The house I currently live in (a typical vic-wardian terrace) has a damp problem in the downstairs bathroom - proper, full-on plaster falling off the walls damp. Which was conveniently painted over (sorry, 'refurbished') when we looked at the property. Apparently, like so many of these houses, the extended back of the house has no damp-proof course. Rather than maintain his property, my landlord has told the letting agency that he can't afford repairs and that we, as tenants, should keep the heating on all the time to 'dry the room out'. Think that might be something of a losing battle ...

RenterGirl said...

Emma: call Environmental Health. Put it in writing that you ask for a lowering of rent if you must pay higher bills.

Jooles108 said...

Help! my daughter has just moved out of an extremely damp flat. She was given notice by her landlord because the electrics kept blowing so he then had a surveyor come and look at the place. The surveyor told him that the room was unfit for human habitation. All her clothes have been ruined and when I sat on her bed, the bedding was damp. Eventually (3 weeks ago) she moved out. He owes her £450 deposit. He has not replied to e-mails and is not answering the phone. She needs that money for another place, meanwhile we have loaned her the deposit. I took pictures of her ruined leather jacket (£150). We have been landlords ourselves and have never refused to give back a deposit or allowed our flats to become damp. We are shocked and I don't know how these landlords get away with it. Any suggestions on how to get her money back? Thats without spending out for solicitors....she cannot afford!

RenterGirl said...

Go to the small claims court. As former landlords: I thought you'd know about them: no solicitor required. Sorry to hear this. Any further questions - could you please email as comments on old posts are easy to miss. Thanks and all the best.

Anonymous said...

Here in Canada the landlord tried to tell us that we needed to open the windows a lot to combat the interior mould. Which we do: we have our windows open more than any other house on the street. BUT when it is --5 or worse outside it is hard to live in a cold house. Then there is the crappy electric heat that is almost useless (and part of the reason why the mould forms...lack of heat.) So landlord bleats away about it being our 'fault'. They later had a house inspection and it was found that the indoor electric clothes dryer AND the interior ceiling fan in the bathroom were sucking up moisture only into the attic. Nothing had been vented properly to the exterior. Touche. It was not our fault:) We are now moving out and that day can not come soon enough. Tenants: don't give up with your complaints because it can turn out that the landlord eventually understand is was and is NOT your fault :)