Britain in grip of mould crisis claims high profile p...

Jo Westlake
16 October 2023 01:26 AM

I'd say the utility companies are to mainly blame with the sky high Direct Debits. One of mine wanted DDs for £280 a month for usage that was predicted to be less than £2000 a year.

It doesn't help that Ofgem insist on quoting average annual usage in monetary terms instead of just saying a kWh costs about 27p for electric and a low usage household would expect to use about 6 kWhs a day, medium usage around 12 kWhs and high over 20 kWhs. Obviously an all electric household would use somewhat more and winter bills are always going to be higher than summer ones.

William Williams
16 October 2023 08:36 AM

I fully agree, with the cost of energy. Tenants are not heating their homes properly, this combined with keeping the windows closed to keep the heat in is just making the problem worse. One of my tenants even found a way to shut down the attic Positive Pressurization Fan to save himself a few pennies on his electric bill. Result massive mould problem in a property that has never had a mould problem in the 30 years it has been rented out.

Nick Van Hoogstraaten
16 October 2023 06:47 AM

The main reasons for mould is ignorance and laziness. Too much moisture produced and the tenants not ventilating the house properly like my tenants.
I came with a damp surveyor to the house and the grandmother visiting from Nigeria has all the washing drying in the house. All windows shut. The surveyor spoke to her. It went in one ear and out the other. But they still called the Council and no win no fee solicitor for some fraudulent compensation claims.

It will get worse with the Reform Bill as tenants will have more security and will have the ombudsman ready to instruct repairs, apologies and compensation….

James Turner
22 October 2023 08:04 AM

You should be careful with that nick, it's not a huge stretch to assume a law change to prevent properties with no outdoor clothes drying space being rented out. Sounds like that would render the majority of your properties worthless.

Nick Van Hoogstraaten
23 October 2023 09:42 AM

I only have properties with outside drying space for that reason. Thanks for the tip.

Michael Foley
16 October 2023 07:03 AM

I have a house where all the double sealed units have failed and need replacing due windows never opened and condensation running down them for months as I have observed from outside.
Locks with Euro Cylinder thumb screw that were installed on Fire Doors for HMO Regulation’s, so as someone couldn’t inadvertently get locked inside incase of fire all removed and replaced with their own non compliant locks to keep landlord out, needless to say damage to doors because they didn’t know how to remove.

Andrew Hall
16 October 2023 07:15 AM

I'd check with building control or local fire authority

Ian Deaugustine
16 October 2023 07:17 AM

All mould issues are inevitably the landlord's responsibility only. War famine is landlord responsibility: Inflation is landlord responsibility, tenants are poor victims; the list goes on forever.

Simon Logan
16 October 2023 07:17 AM

Nick is correct…. Pick your tenants even more carefully now 🆘🆘😨😨. The well educated are at the very top of my list, they always have been and I have had zero problems.

Andrew townshend
16 October 2023 08:58 AM

Not always Simon, I've had the supposed '' well educated'' with zero common sense

Emily Simmons
16 October 2023 10:22 AM

Does not always follow. My second worst tenants for damage were two university lecturers with children who liked to 'express themselves'.

Annoyed Landlord
16 October 2023 10:29 AM

@ Emily, Teachers and commonsense rarely go together.

Andrew townshend
16 October 2023 11:24 AM

@ Emily, in my experience teachers are normally as thick as 2 short planks, but don't they just love trying to tell you how well educated they are

Tricia Urquhart
16 October 2023 07:19 AM

The cost of heating must be a huge contributory factor now.

Michael Foley
16 October 2023 07:19 AM

Andrew H, my friend surely you don’t want me fined as well.

Gordon Brown
16 October 2023 07:59 AM

It's funny but owner occupied houses don't have a mould problem.

Ian Deaugustine
16 October 2023 08:06 AM

You are right: I have lived in all of my properties for a considerable amount of time before renting them, and I never experienced a mould issue with proper use of heating and ventilation; who knows why, after a while, a tenant lives at this property, mould issue emerges regularly; obviously, it has to do only with us landlord responsibility.

Rae Evans
16 October 2023 09:21 AM

Well mine does!

Nick Van Hoogstraaten
16 October 2023 09:52 AM

Exactly. If and when mould appears the owner occupier deals with it. But the tenant sits on their bottom, call the landlord, council and then no win no fee solicitor. I have first hand experience. Gove recently issued a statement saying mould is the responsibility of landlords to fix basically.

Gordon Brown
16 October 2023 13:46 PM

Rae Evans. You need to ventilate properly

Darren Court
16 October 2023 08:51 AM

So he leads with two major causes... penetration and rising damp and seems to almost begrudgingly accept that condensation is often a problem too. Of course, rental properties sometimes experience penetration and rising damp problems, but it seems by far the biggest problem is condensation not least because we all want to do things that cause it!

We don't want to lose any heat and so we identify any draft in order to seal our homes. We likewise don't want to open a window and lose the warm air we paid to heat. So we seal our homes like a plastic bag. Then we introduce lots of water vapour from showers, baths, washing, cooking, etc. with not a thought ... until the mold appears! All this we do without education based on just what we think and know, and nobody tells us what's really going on.

The difference is when it's our own home we know it's our responsibility and we want the solution because we cannot blame anyone else. We're therefore reluctantly willing to accept the idea that we might be causing the problem and change our lifestyle to accommodate. Tenants have a different view. The mold must be a defect in the property and aren't so willing to learn and change... Even when a landlord goes out of their way to explain, they suspect he must be lying in order to not do what he should do to fix the problem.

Councils are all to ready to blame the landlord as are charities like Shelter because it plays well with the bigger demographic, tenants. I even had one council appraise a property give me A* rating only to then threaten action against me six months later because the tenant reported mold. Independent analysis showed it was entirely down to tenant lifestyle.

I can almost forgive the ignorance of tenants, but organisation like the National Association of Property Buyers must know better!

Peter Lewis
16 October 2023 09:04 AM

So as Landlords 95% of us know that unless there is an obvious cause. that the main reason for mould is lack of ventilation.
As Landlords, 95% of us also know that you can explain until your blue in the face to tenants that they need to open windows to allow adequate fresh air into the home, and also use the expensively installed central heating to keep the mould at bay. Simple isn’t it?
And as Landlords we also know that the minute that you walk out of the door the information that you have conveyed has gone straight over their heads and the tenant carries on doing exactly what they were doing before the mould was inspected. i.e. Drying clothes indoors, keeping windows tightly closed in every room, and not using the extractor fans in the Kitchen or Bathroom.
Oh what a wonderful way to make a living, guilty until proven innocent.

Andrew townshend
16 October 2023 09:26 AM

High profile?? ha ha sounds like a joke to me Joni boy

Colin Thomas
16 October 2023 09:35 AM

Mould is nearly always simply the result of tenants failing to understand the causes of condensation. Showering, boiling kettles, cooking, drying clothes indoors and simply breathing. I was yesterday summoned to a flat after complaints of mould affecting a tenant’s health. Washing hanging on dryers in front of radiators. All windows closed and running with condensed water. Very heavy mould in bathroom and outside wall of living room. I asked the tenant where he thought that the water went when his clothes were drying. He just looked at me.

Santokh Ghai
16 October 2023 10:00 AM

I had identical experience with one of several tenants who lived in the same property at one or other time.
Mild developed in one of the rooms and even the ceiling was appearing as if the water leak had occurred from the flat above.
The reason: The room was being used to dry wet clothes on the radiators without opening any window.

I had myself (with my family) lived in the same flat for seven years without any spot of fungus appearing before the flat was let out.

Michael Foley
16 October 2023 10:48 AM

Brent Council’s a complete waste of everyone’s time, even to bring a bit of Domestic Waste to Abbey Road dump it must be booked in advanced. However it’s closed 2 works days in the week and the website do allow me to book it. It tell me my post code not found 40 minutes wasted on it & dozens of attempts. They have no problem collecting my £2’600. c/tax.
They have a phone help line at the Depot of 4 Recorded messages options none suitable but tell you to call Council Office if you have trouble booking waste on 02089375050 which again gives you 4 more Recorded non options dead end no wonder they are £13m over budget homeless Hotel debt with this nonsense, they wouldn’t run a tap.

David Rose
16 October 2023 10:58 AM

I do wonder how much mould is caused by fire doors. They obviously severely restrict the flow of air around a property

Michaela Anaka
16 October 2023 14:59 PM

I manage over 100 properties, mould isnt an issue once it is dealt with, I agree it is a tenant phenomenon but nothing that good management skills cant tackle there is also the fact that owner occupiers get on top of maintenance faster than a tenant and landlord. As an agent I have comprehensive fact sheets I do a autumn inspection I provide the tenants with instructions and products and I work with tenants to ensure matters are always kept under control. Attitude and education are the key. Good management training for agents and landlords is essential and not just a online course. Rent arrears is another issue self managing landlords face which also down to management and negotiation techniques.
Mould, damp and building issues are all managed with regular inspections and good building management

Robert Brown
16 October 2023 15:20 PM

Common sense is all that's needed from all concerned.

No need for expensive agents and fancy courses, online or otherwise.

If the tenants can't have common sense imparted then they need to be departed!

Nick Van Hoogstraaten
16 October 2023 15:25 PM

My agent didn't help with the mould. Needed a kick up the bottom. All they wanted to tell me was what was excluded from their full management services and what they could charge me for doing anything other than collecting the rent and graciously giving me my cut. Agent and tenant now happily departed :)

George Dawes
16 October 2023 15:42 PM

Rising Damp ? Oh miss jones !

Nick Van Hoogstraaten
16 October 2023 15:50 PM

According to an ex-head of the RICS about 10 years ago rising damp does not exist. I put a brick in a bucket of water and water does not travel up it by capillary action. They say it's all just to sell products.

David Owen
16 October 2023 18:46 PM

Like many landlords I've had the no win no fee nasty experience over mould and claimed pneumonia. Tenant took a beautifully renovated bungalow in a first class location and turned it into a brothel. We won but a lot of sleepless night. We we gained possession there was black mould in all rooms. Twenty quids worth of beech and a days elbow grease and it was gone and never came back. Have a nice old lady renting it now.
Point is tenants don't give a damn and are happy to sit and watch the mould grow. Lazy b's.

Nick Van Hoogstraaten
16 October 2023 19:55 PM

I had Nigerians do all that. S21 defence to the judge too. All kids got respiratory problems apparently…. I defended it now I don’t want another tenant with the RRB

Michael Foley
16 October 2023 19:13 PM

Nick, some bricks are less absorbent than others. Class A engineering bricks very good also Staffordshire Blue engineering like Railway Bridges although damp course should eliminate rising damp whether a modern DPC or old Victorian with 2 courses of natural Slate. While doing the 55ft deep shafts and rest chambers for sewer diversion under Mersey Tunnel in 66 / 67 Nutall Atkinson had a laboratory set up on Site. When a brick delivery came random samples were taken and tested before unloading and sometimes the didn’t pass the test and rejected had to go back. God held the Brickies too if the joint’s and perps weren’t completely full.

Andrew townshend
16 October 2023 19:36 PM

Old soft norfolk reds sock water up like a sponge

Nick Van Hoogstraaten
17 October 2023 09:55 AM

I understand that some are more absorbent than others. I'm saying a lot of things get misdiagnosed as rising damp by cowboy builders who claim to be damp specialists. But certiainly some do suck up moisture.