A local authority has issued a statement with advice to landlords and tenants about how to identify and tackle mould.
North East Lincolnshire council says that condensation is usually the biggest cause of damp within homes, which provides the perfect environment for mould to grow. Mould encourages mites into your home and can increase the risk of respiratory illnesses in some people.
Reducing condensation-producing activities, ventilating your home to remove excess moisture and insulating your property will all help to reduce damp in your home.
It says there are five ways to reduce the amount of moisture that you produce in your home - drying clothes outdoors if possible, avoiding, venting tumble driers to the outside or buying a condensing type, covering pans when cooking, not using paraffin or gas bottle heaters, and always ventilating when using the kitchen or the bathroom while closing doors to prevent moisture in the air from spreading to other parts of the house.
Should mould develop, there are a number of steps that tenants and landlords can each take to reduce mould in a property.
For tenants it says carefully remove excess mould with a damp cloth and dispose; regularly checking under divan bed drawers, behind wardrobes, bedside cabinets, bedheads and clothing stored in cupboards; and wiping down affected areas using a good quality mould and mildew spray.
Meanwhile it says landlords should work to determine the cause of the problem, carry out repairs to make good any defects identified at the property, redecorate using a specialist bathroom or kitchen paint, and if using wallpaper making sure to apply a good quality paste with an anti-fungicidal additive. In addition, it says landlords should provide mechanical ventilation with a humidity sensor.
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Home owners search out damp & mould, work out why it is happening and change their behaviour. Tenants blame the property & expect the LL to sort it out :(
All very good sensible advice and mostly aimed at the tenant's way of living
Had a tenant go to a no win no fee lawyer with claims over mould. Council visited and said it was down to drying washing on radiators, not opening windows and not using kitchen extractor. When I asked for a copy of report for my Solicitor they told me I couldn't have it and then watered down what they'd said. I had a specialist go in and write a report and case was dropped. The local authority was NELC. Don't believe a word these people say, they dont give a sh1t about landlords. Totally biased in favour of tenants.
I had the no win no fee lawyer too. The tenant didn't report a broken fan. So I got the blame. The lawyer in the pre-action disclosure names a surveying firm he owned which I told my solicitor about. The council told me she had wet towels on the floor at the time of the inspection. I caught them drying clothes inside when it was going to be dry all day.
It's all about the tenants. No way am I doing the rental reform crap. You will always be wrong.
The tenants have a deaf ear when it comes to this, a lot are now sniffing compo, 💰💰. The recent case in Rochdale has got a few of the ne’er do wells twitching.
Very sensible advice. Probably because the council is worried about being sued, itself. I had a tenant demand the deeds, she said she had paid for the property intent and was having it, otherwise she would make our life hell, and she did. Dudley council put the boot in ! She put a lot of effort to make the damp scan work. I got a special report that showed it was not rising damp. Eventually we evicted them and they downgraded to a much inferior council flat !
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