I'm a tenant and my landlord is over his head

spottybananas

A friend of mine and her boyfriend wrecked an apartment by having clothes perpetually drying on a clothes horse in the living room. You'd feel the moisture in the air when you walked in, but they had both just moved out of home and hadn't a clue what they were doing. There was black mould creeping up the wall beside the clothes horse, I was constantly telling them to stop leaving wet clothes there every single day (they didn't want to use the dryer much but come on like sometimes it's necessary when you've storage heaters and no outdoor space to use).

Eventually anyway one day my friend realised that her "allergies" were acting up only when sat on the couch, so she pulled the leather cushions off the back of it, the whole fabric part of the couch was absolutely covered in mould. This had never happened in this property before (I also knew the person who owned it), they had caused all of this with the clothes horse, with clothes for two people. So it is definitely possible to do this sort of damage with just wet clothes.

Gatling

percy212 wrote: »

Your LL is a chancer. Call PRTB and Threshold for advice. Get a solicitor if you can afford it. Drying a few clothes indoors does not cause mould. Do not be suckered by this guy. Get advice.

Yes it does add a damn carpet that's never been dried out and a fair amount of condensation will cause mould to grow

Drexel

spottybananas wrote: »

A friend of mine and her boyfriend wrecked an apartment by having clothes perpetually drying on a clothes horse in the living room. You'd feel the moisture in the air when you walked in, but they had both just moved out of home and hadn't a clue what they were doing. There was black mould creeping up the wall beside the clothes horse, I was constantly telling them to stop leaving wet clothes there every single day (they didn't want to use the dryer much but come on like sometimes it's necessary when you've storage heaters and no outdoor space to use).

Eventually anyway one day my friend realised that her "allergies" were acting up only when sat on the couch, so she pulled the leather cushions off the back of it, the whole fabric part of the couch was absolutely covered in mould. This had never happened in this property before (I also knew the person who owned it), they had caused all of this with the clothes horse, with clothes for two people. So it is definitely possible to do this sort of damage with just wet clothes.

Im really surprised at this. Ive beeen drying in the same place for about 3 years and all is fine. The apartment must have had ventilation issues or they never opened a window in general or turned the heating on.

How long were they at it for?

ted1

OP you don't use the tumble dryer because your too cheap, so instead have caused a damp problem.

Now here's the kicker you say you leave the windows open when using the clothes horse. Well guess what all the heat is going out and it's costing you a fortune to heat.

So your post appears very contradictory.

spottybananas

jonny666 wrote: »

Im really surprised at this. Ive beeen drying in the same place for about 3 years and all is fine. The apartment must have had ventilation issues or they never opened a window in general or turned the heating on.

How long were they at it for?

They had one small window in the kitchen/living area, this was open often, but the patio door couldn't opened much due to it being winter (dark after work) and a dodgy area. All other rooms were fine, just the one with the clothes horse got damp. I can't remember exactly how long they were there/it took to happen but I'm gonna say more than 3 months, less than 6.

evolving_doors

he can't let the place soon for 2 reasons:

1. Viewing for prospective tenants is difficult because it doesnt suit ye (even though ye're moving out soon).

2. Visual signs of damp.

If he could be assured of letting the place ASAP he mightnt have to face a months vacancy.
If he only starts showing it properly when ye move out then its certain he'll be down a month...

Ya sure , he sounds like an awkward ++++ but ,brass tax , where will he get the shortfall from? Simple.. your deposit.

Just bite the bullit and get on board.

1. Remove visual signs of damp. (even if you have to 'paint over' some of it).
2. Try your best to facilitate viewings ( how 'busy' can you be not to let someone in for a viewing? )

Sure, its a big kick in the head to 'help him out'. But I have a feeling if you turn on the charm a bit and have a tenant ready to move in when you move out, then you might see the deposit without hassle.

Failing that, good luck with the PRTB.

Einstein?

Please take a look at these. I last wrecked my back cleaning these damp spots where all the fungal growth is about 4 weeks ago.

Picture:


First row: clothes horse in living room where it is always kept, also roof directly above where you would expect dampness from this source to appear.

Second row: kitchen dampness, directly above a crap window, in the corner of the roof, and in a press/cabinet which has NEVER been used.

Third row: bedroom dampness, particularly on roof in area shown.

Einstein?

Armelodie wrote: »

he can't let the place soon for 2 reasons:

1. Viewing for prospective tenants is difficult because it doesnt suit ye (even though ye're moving out soon).

2. Visual signs of damp.

If he could be assured of letting the place ASAP he mightnt have to face a months vacancy.
If he only starts showing it properly when ye move out then its certain he'll be down a month...

Ya sure , he sounds like an awkward ++++ but ,brass tax , where will he get the shortfall from? Simple.. your deposit.

Just bite the bullit and get on board.

1. Remove visual signs of damp. (even if you have to 'paint over' some of it).
2. Try your best to facilitate viewings ( how 'busy' can you be not to let someone in for a viewing? )

Sure, its a big kick in the head to 'help him out'. But I have a feeling if you turn on the charm a bit and have a tenant ready to move in when you move out, then you might see the deposit without hassle.

Failing that, good luck with the PRTB.

I should say that we were both extremely courteous throughout the whole year, allowing him to come in as he pleased to do some work that needed to be doing. I'm entitled to say no, and he is totally taking it the wrong way. We are both extremely busy due to personal reasons.

Drexel

spottybananas wrote: »

They had one small window in the kitchen/living area, this was open often, but the patio door couldn't opened much due to it being winter (dark after work) and a dodgy area. All other rooms were fine, just the one with the clothes horse got damp. I can't remember exactly how long they were there/it took to happen but I'm gonna say more than 3 months, less than 6.

Did they use the heating at all?

Looking at the pics the op posted that damp has nothin to do with the clothes horse

john.han

That looks like structural issues.

Einstein?

ted1 wrote: »

OP you don't use the tumble dryer because your too cheap, so instead have caused a damp problem.

Now here's the kicker you say you leave the windows open when using the clothes horse. Well guess what all the heat is going out and it's costing you a fortune to heat.

So your post appears very contradictory.

The apartment doesn't hold any heat windows closed or open. It's poorly insulated, and did not have an energy rating on daft. If I were to give it one, it might be Z (A being really good).

Gatling

That's not structural or caused by a leak in the roof .
Leaks coming from roofs or ceilings usually are identified by the brown/yellowish stains and looks like a spillage that wasn't cleaned properly ,
I'm my experiences with apartments it's fairly common with drying clothes indoors and lack of fresh air and decent heating .
Kitchen presses get wet from steam when cooking with open pots and no lids , drying presses after cooking with a dry towel often helps ,
The bedrooms are the same where that mould is between the ceiling and wall joining my experience has always been a build up of moisture from damp and and breathing will always be visible exactly where that mould is and it's usual droplets just sitting there .
keep on top of that and the mould won't appear .
buy yourself a condenser dryer for the clothes it's worth it in the long run.

I'm not a builder or a structural engineer but I've been living in apartments for nearly 20 years and have had similar issues in various properties you would be surprised how keeping a any eye on certain areas will prevent mould appearing

yosser hughes

Labarbapostiza wrote: »

This B***** has been in his game longer than you've been in yours.

There's dispute resolution with the tenancy board. I've no idea how well that goes. (in my experience they are landlord friendly). You may not get any money back or only a portion.

The best thing to do is dig your heals in, and don't come across as push overs. Whatever you do, do not hand over the keys until you get your money. If he thinks you're going to trash the place, and cause more than the deposits worth worth of damage, he'll likely poney up.

I agree with the above

If it comes down to it make it very plain to him that you will be going nowhere unless you get your deposit. Mention the PRTB. Don't let this bollix intimidate you.

I'm amazed at the rent you were paying for a thirty year old sub standard flat

Drexel

Gatling wrote: »

That's not structural or caused by a leak in the roof .
Leaks coming from roofs or ceilings usually are identified by the brown/yellowish stains and looks like a spillage that wasn't cleaned properly ,
I'm my experiences with apartments it's fairly common with drying clothes indoors and lack of fresh air and decent heating .
Kitchen presses get wet from steam when cooking with open pots and no lids , drying presses after cooking with a dry towel often helps ,
The bedrooms are the same where that mould is between the ceiling and wall joining my experience has always been a build up of moisture from damp and and breathing will always be visible exactly where that mould is and it's usual droplets just sitting there .
keep on top of that and the mould won't appear .
buy yourself a condenser dryer for the clothes it's worth it in the long run.

I'm not a builder or a structural engineer but I've been living in apartments for nearly 20 years and have had similar issues in various properties you would be surprised how keeping a any eye on certain areas will prevent mould appearing

But not everything can be dryed in the dryer and during the winter (and summer in Ireland) it's impossible to dry clothes outside a lot of the time

Gatling

jonny666 wrote: »

But not everything can be dryed in the dryer and during the winter (and summer in Ireland) it's impossible to dry clothes outside a lot of the time

It's part of a solution to part of a problem .

Rather than keep making excuses try be proactive

Drexel

Gatling wrote: »

It's part of a solution to part of a problem .

Rather than keep making excuses try be proactive

Not an excuse. Without rads a clothes horse is needed.

It sounds like you are making excuses with steam from cooking causing mould. I've lived in lots of apartments and have ne'er had an issue like that. If that's the case the apartment is very poor ventilated and doesn't matter what he does there will be mould

sh1tstirrer

Einstein? wrote: »

Please take a look at these. I last wrecked my back cleaning these damp spots where all the fungal growth is about 4 weeks ago.
QUOTE] You wrecked your back cleaning a few damp spots and you girlfriend thinks her privacy was invaded by the landlord moving the clothes horse with her knickers on it, you do tend to whine a bit. I like to hear the landlords version.

ChubbyHubby

Jesus, you anti LL people with your excuses. Fact is, the OP doesn't have a clue how to take care of an apartment with insufficient heating and contributed to the damp and mold problem. You should never dry clothes indoors when the place doesn't have sufficient heating. So what if it's impossible to dry outside. Get an electric heater and open some windows and get some common sense and a sense of responsibility instead of shifting blames. God!

[edit]
You can also get a dehumidifier or just cloths and kitchen towels to mop up excuse moisture on the window sills. OP moved in and there was no mold. There is now. So how bloody long did he left the apartment in the damp condition before mold started growing? If no BER rating on the site then why didn't you ask? If you did and unhappy then you didn't have to rent it. TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!!

Einstein?

ChubbyHubby wrote: »

Jesus, you anti LL people with your excuses. Fact is, the OP doesn't have a clue how to take care of an apartment with insufficient heating and contributed to the damp and mold problem. You should never dry clothes indoors when the place doesn't have sufficient heating. So what if it's impossible to dry outside. Get an electric heater and open some windows and get some common sense and a sense of responsibility instead of shifting blames. God!

Between my girlfriend and I, we've rented out over 30 rooms/ apartments in multiple countries including Australia, New Zealand and Spain.

We have treated all of these the same and have had no issues drying clothes inside on a clothes horse. I've only experienced damp/mold build up once when I was a student and had a small single room that had a structural problem in the wall - admitted by the landlord, and we kept on removing it, and we got on well.

I'm not anti landlord or anti any group of people. I think my current landlord is not being fair - especially after having a host of extremely nice landlords previously. Let me tell you, that after paying our substantial rent every month for the past year including this month's, and allowing him to do the work he should have done prior to letting the apartment again (he let it straight after a 5-year long let) throughout 2014 without any complaints or any objections; that he should then blame this mold build up on us and to then slyly suggest and hint that he may deduct or even withhold the deposit which we gave him without hesitation is not one bit fair. Especially when we require a good reference for our next letting and when the sum of that deposit is substantial enough that we are partly relying on it for our next letting, I think he should cop on.

the_syco

Einstein? wrote: »

I get a phone call later saying that he could not believe the smell of dampness when he walked into the hallway which previously had a flooding incident (water boiler broke down, he replaced it and he told us to leave the carpet stripped until it dried - it never really dried in).

If leaving in a few weeks, rent out two large dehumidifiers. Close all windows, and put the dehumidifiers on full blast. Check them every hour or two for the first day to see how much water they accumulate, and empty them regularly. Do this for a week, and I'd say this will get rid of a lot of the dampness.

jonny666 wrote: »

But not everything can be dryed in the dryer and during the winter (and summer in Ireland) it's impossible to dry clothes outside a lot of the time

If you can't dry the clothes outside, get a powered dehumidifier for the room where you decide to dry the clothes.

=-=

Anyhoos, fact is there was a "flooding incident", and unless the OP properly got rid of the water from the flooding, it probably caused a couple of issues. OP being in a penthouse, I'm assuming there is concrete between the floors otherwise the OP would've heard from whomever lived below him by now.

=-=

A powered dehumidifier (a non-powered passive one won't do as good a job in the time the OP has) where the flooding took place, and a dehumidifier in each room for a few days would get rid of a lot of the dampness. A bit of scrubbing to get of the mould after a few days of the dehumidifier, and the OP should get rid of most, if not all, of the mould, IMO.

the_syco

Einstein? wrote: »

Especially when we require a good reference for our next letting and when the sum of that deposit is substantial enough that we are partly relying on it for our next letting, I think he should cop on.

You can do a PTRB complaint, and maybe get the money back in a year or so. Otherwise take drastic steps to sort the issue. Short term, only you will lose if he doesn't "cop on".

ballyharpat

Einstein? wrote: »

Between my girlfriend and I, we've rented out over 30 rooms/ apartments in multiple countries including Australia, New Zealand and Spain.

We have treated all of these the same and have had no issues drying clothes inside on a clothes horse. I've only experienced damp/mold build up once when I was a student and had a small single room that had a structural problem in the wall - admitted by the landlord, and we kept on removing it, and we got on well.

I'm not anti landlord or anti any group of people. I think my current landlord is not being fair - especially after having a host of extremely nice landlords previously. Let me tell you, that after paying our substantial rent every month for the past year including this month's, and allowing him to do the work he should have done prior to letting the apartment again (he let it straight after a 5-year long let) throughout 2014 without any complaints or any objections; that he should then blame this mold build up on us and to then slyly suggest and hint that he may deduct or even withhold the deposit which we gave him without hesitation is not one bit fair. Especially when we require a good reference for our next letting and when the sum of that deposit is substantial enough that we are partly relying on it for our next letting, I think he should cop on.

If you/ye are in yer 20/30's and have rented over 30 rooms/apartments, ye must be getting kicked out of some, or maybe have not stayed longer than 6 months in any and had ye stayed in any of these longer, dampness would probably have been a problem.

I was told by a previous tenent that one of my properties was very damp in the back room, I asked them were they heating the room and opening the window during the day, they assured me they were. I moved back into the property myself before renovating, I cleaned the mould/damp spots. I never turned on the heating in that room, I opened the window to the 1inch opening that you can lock the small part of the window. Voila, 18 months and no damp!! I now have the place rented out again, I checked after 3 months, the bathroom window/wall was showing damp signs, I had provided a squeegee to wipe down the tiles after shower/bath and asked the open the window for 15 min when finished, to let out the excess moisture, I could tell they weren't doing this.

I pointed out the damp and very sternly said the windows were to be opened daily!!! for a short period. If they didnt do that, I would not be able to extend the lease due to damage. They open the windows now and there is no damp, they're happy, I'm happy I did also say about the clothes horse in sitting room, as I know I don't like opening a window in the sitting roomto let the heat out. But told them use the airer in the utility room and leave the window open, job done.....

punisher5112

If the property is properly insulated you would not need to be opening windows every day.

My dads house is from late 50's build and insulation was a minimum to none.
The house was dry lined about 15 years ago maybe more and there has never been any mould or damp since these improvements, saying improvements these were diy and not done on the outside.

Clothes are dried inside mostly in winter and dryer going at times also along with the windows not been opened since I would guess August maybe even longer and they wouldn't be open every day either.

I would guess a wash on at least 1 every day as the women in the house love washing everything.


I live in a house built in last 20 years with alright insulation not the may west but there is no damp whatsoever and we only use a stove to heat the house.
We have no drier and no way of drying clothes outside as they do not allow it in the area.

We do not or would not open windows every day as work and that so security also. We do open when weather is'nt to bad and would every so often to air the house out anyway. During the summer it is a warm house so windows would be open a lot but winter not much.

evolving_doors

Talk of structural issues causing damp is best kept for the pub. If you really want to go down that path then its engineers reports etc. which is a waste of time/miney.
The landlord knows that once you start the blame game then he'll keep the deposit and let you launch the big costly crusade hoping the PRTB will come to the rescue.

The fact that the OP is making it difficult for the LL to view, only gives that LL one option to cover the vacancy that may follow.

bobslifeforu

Einstein? wrote: »

What am I entitled to do in such situations?

Neither my girlfriend or I have had bad experiences with landlords before and they were never so nosy.

Truth telling -

I had to lodge PRTB claim 4 yrs ago as a tenant, it was the most uninformative / uninteractive process I've ever been through. I submitted my claim and then nothing for 9 months (calls to their office were responded to with "it's being processed"). It took 9 months for me to get 75% of my deposit back and i was too exhausted to dispute the rest.

The only advice i can give is if you think it's going to end up with the PRTB start documenting everything now. All correspondence should be done via text or email (backed up to email if it's a text (judge Judy don't care about lost phones) ). If the landlord says something serious as you're about to leave the property eg "before you go i need to get somebody in to look at the dampness that clothes horse is causing", try to end the conversation on the phone (subtly) and continue it in writing just for a paper trail.

Take photos of all rooms and their problem spots now and every month until the lease is done.

i don't know what the landlord is like so you'll have to judge how to approach them if they decide to contest the deposit. But don't get hostile, if they mention they're keeping it they've obviously thought about it. Tell them calmly you don't agree with their decision, list your reasons, remind them you were a good tenant for so long and if they still wont budge remind them that you're willing and prepared to bring it to the PRTB and that you've documented the state of the property over that last few months.

Gods speed fellow tenant person.
(PS: landlords and other defenders of any cause, i've been tenant for a long time and have never once damage a property or had a complaint from neighbors or guards... that landlord was just a d1ck)

punisher5112

If it doesn't suit the op/tenant for viewings it does have to be arranged as we all know this is their home(not thier own property) at suitable times and if it were me when all my things are in the property I would not allow viewings if I was not there as the risk of things just walking out the door.

I suggested earlier to the op to look up threshold for advice and others said about sample letters which are all on their site and go the right way as if a case has to be brought to the PRTB then it will help the op case.

garhjw

OP, did you raise the issue of dampness with the ll? Did he ever investigate it?

Secondly, you are being unreasonable not allowing viewings. I suggest you review that decision. It only makes the situation worse in my opinion.

Victor

Einstein? wrote: »

I mentioned this age thing because he brought it up in his argument over the phone saying that he is much older than us and he has more experience about mold and dampness ...

So it's been a regular problem then?

punisher5112

Wonder op is he a cavan lad:pac:

sh1tstirrer

punisher5112 wrote: »

Wonder op is he a cavan lad:pac:

:mad::D