Damp/mould disaster.

[GCE]

Hey all, hoping someone can help advise me on this.

I rent an old terraced property that is in disrepair. When I first signed the lease it I naïvely thought I'd caught a lucky break of sorts, which obviously turned out too good to be true. I knew there were issues, but not to the extent that was kept from me.

I have many chronic health conditions and am medically retired, so I was grateful to be accepted for a tenancy. The property wasn't in great shape, but neither did it seem overly problematic. More decorative and cleanliness than anything else.

The landlords were pleasant and welcoming, even immediately replacing the boiler (very old model that was causing rust from the hot tap, worse when heating was on) when it unexpectedly broke down, and all seemed fine until a few months in when multiple issues started to appear. I am not sure exactly what type of damp or mould, but my bedroom started getting "lines" of damp. I contacted my landlord who of course said they would address the issue, but did not come to the property or contact me. The damp got worse. I complained again and explained about my health in detail, so they again said they would fix the issues and, I now realise due to the risk of prosecution, offered another of their properties for me to live in while they renovated, as after some inspection it appears that many of these houses have had the same issues and only renovated properties have truly fixed the problems.

I ended up staying in the other property for a number of months, with very little communication, only that they were working on the property and would keep me posted. I was in and out of hospital so had priorities that kept me distracted.

I then got the news that they had went in to receivership, and a number of their properties had been taken over by a company. The locks were changed, and as I still had some furniture in my original rent, and that is the one I had a tenancy agreement for, I have now had to move back in to it while the property goes to auction. There was a lot of difficulty with this. I am looking for other places to live and keeping options as open as possible, but I am limited. I have been told by the company that in all likelihood, whoever buys the property at auction will want to keep me as a tenant, to at least keep some money coming in.
I don't exactly want to stay in this place, but for now it's all I have.
So, to the point at hand...Can anyone tell me what kind of damp/mould this is/what has caused it? After reading I believe it is mainly condensation issues, as while I was not living here, it seems the landlord wasn't ventilating properly, if at all, and sporadically putting heating on to try and alleviate the issues, which I've read has only made the problem worse.

I've been told it was just left like this and then the locks got changed. I should add I always thought the windows had issues, I don't believe the attic is adequately insulated/ventilated, and the property is old and from what I can tell has damage to the outside too. They used to be the houses for workers in the area.

Next door is a council house that recently had some issues fixed including the guttering, and when I enquired to the men what was happening, they said they assumed this property was also council owned and proceeded to replace the guttering on mine too. They may have just been kind to me.

The bathroom has multiple issues too. It's almost like a cardboard box stuck on to a brick house. Bubbling paint on the walls, draft from under the bath, unsealed plastic sheeting around the bath, polystyrene ceiling tiles, the sink is coming away from the wall...the list seems endless.

The back room has similar issues to the bedroom, but again I think this is down to condensation.

Thank you if you have read this far, and any and all advice is welcome. Sorry I am such a novice and have no idea where to truly begin, Google can only help so much and I don't want to employ anyone before knowing where I'm at so I don't get duped.

Anything I can do to improve the appearance of the place I'm hoping will give me a better chance at the new owner deciding to keep me on, and hopefully fix the issues properly. I will add pictures to show. Thanks again

N.B. I tried to upload photos to this thread but have messed it up somehow and created an album on my profile instead. Sorry for the inconvenience but please view them there as I have not slept and I'm just not sure how to add to the thread directly

Georgie

 

[acurachris]

Google can only help so much and I don't want to employ anyone before knowing where I'm at so I don't get duped.

Employ anyone? Do you mean like a builder? This shouldn't be up to you to do, you are a tenant, so if the building is in disrepair, it's the owner/landlord that is responsible for the building's maintenance. I realise you're going through a change of owner, so not sure what happens with your tenancy agreement, did you have one in the first place?

Anything I can do to improve the appearance of the place I'm hoping will give me a better chance at the new owner deciding to keep me on

Ensure your rent is paid and that you're doing everything the tenancy agreement suggests you do. If i was buying a property to rent out, i'd see it as a bonus if it was already tenanted (so long as they are paying!). If they're not paying and i knew, I wouldn't buy it.

 

[GCE]

Hey there, thank you for your reply.
Not a builder, no, but a damp inspector maybe to determine what the issues are, so I know how desperate the situation is, how long it may take to rectify, and so I'm aware of what's actually wrong before the new landlord takes over and, if they aren't kosher, don't try and dupe me in any way over fixing the problems. Under the circumstances I'm not overly trusting, and just want to be savvy about everything I can. I did have a tenancy agreement in place but that has no run over, so I am not guaranteed in any way.

I paid rent on time consistently, and when the company took over the tenancy, I moved the payments to them, after some palaver. I have no issue with paying rent as long as the property is made to be habitable. Currently it's making my health worse, so more than anything, even if I do get given notice, I am having to wait a fair while before the house even goes to auction, so thinking of employing someone to inspect/treat the issues so I can live better. I wouldn't have any building work done as I know this is down to the owner only, but it's just so I can live better in the meantime. I'm no concerned the furniture I had to leave here, sofas, bed, bulky items etc, may be contaminated by spores. The old landlord said they would get plastic sheeting to cover everything on my behalf as they had access to materials, but this wasn't done. The "worst" of the mould pictures, in the lounge, has been mere inches away from the back of my sofa, so now worried about sitting on it even, or thè headboard of my bed making me worse while I sleep. There's nothing I can claim from the old landlords as they're now in the wind, and may have even been done for fraud.

Sorry to go on again!

 

[Notch7]

Hi GCE, welcome to the forum.

Im sorry to hear about your problems, I hope you get it resolved soon

 

[acurachris]

Sounds like it's bad! Is authority housing not available in your area? Are you not considered a higher priority with your medical conditions?

 

[endecotp]

a damp inspector maybe to determine what the issues are

Beware of anyone who calls themselves anything like a “damp inspector”, especially if they offer you a free report that advocates purchasing solutions that they - or a “sister company” - provide