UK Landlord Forum / Life

HI, i am new to this website and i really hope i can get help here with the issue which i recently started to have with my tenants. I have been renting the property out for over 1.5 years now. In the first year my tenants were as good as gold and i only had to inspect the property once a year-which was in perfect order. Very clean and tidy. I lived in the property myself for 2 years prior and i did experience small problem with mold. Which was easily removed with a bleach. When i came to visit the property with the handy man around a year ago to fix bathroom leak, he cleaned a little bit of mold which was there and put new silicone on the edges of the bath. A months ago Tenants informed me that they would like to move out early as one of them made an offer to buy a property for himself and offer got accepted. I did not agree to early termination of the contract and they started to be difficult. Informing me of number of problems they experience at the property( oven switches itself off, fridge not cold enough, dishwasher not washing the dishes properly etc). Plus they ask me to come in and remove the mold from their bathroom again. The contract we signed states that it is tenants responsibility to wipe bathroom regularly to prevent mold formation. When i went  to inspect the property this time - i found it in a bad state overall. Especially bathroom was completely covered in mold, in between all the tiles etc-as if it hasnt been cleaned for a year! When i raised the issue with tenants they said that they clean bathroom regularly but  doesnt help to stop the mold! There is no fan in the bathroom and they told me they have been shutting door in the bathroom every morning after the shower to prevent the moisture  to go into the rooms.Thus causing more mold formation. They believe that  as i havent provided them with the extractor -it is my duty to remove the mold. What is your opinion on the situation? what would your advise be? I have inventory check in report with all the pictures  and it looks completely different now. may thanks!

Our tenants have used mold as a "get out early" card.  They too were complaining of having no fan in the bathroom.   We left them with a leaflet stating what mold is, and once they notice I, wipe away with bleach before the problem gets out of hand.  I wouldn't have thought it was your responsibility to remove the mold, seeing as they are the ones causing it!

It's a tricky one, because the tenants can blame you for not making the property mold-proof and you can blame the tenants for allowing the mold to develop. However, I wouldn't waste too much time arguing about who is to blame though, I would first focus on getting rid of the mold because it can be a serious problem if you allow it to fester. And like all serious problems, it can be extremely expensive to fix once its out of control.

If I were you, I would just take the responsibility of resolving the problem. Go in there and completely remove the mold thoroughly with bleech and/or mold removing solution. There's no point cutting your nose off to spite your face.

I would also invest in an extractor fan- one that turns on automatically with the light-switch, and then remains on for 20mins after the light-switch has been turned off. This will help prevent mold for all future tenants, it's a good investment.

To be safe, take pictures of before and after you've removed the mold. I would then talk to the tenants and guide them on how to prevent mold from developing. You could also get them to sign an agreement/disclaimer, acknowledging that you have removed the mold, and they have understood how to prevent/minimize mold from developing and will follow those practises going forward.

Here's a guide on how to manage mold- perhaps give your tenants a copy (and if you want them to sign a disclaimer, you could mention that they have received this booklet): http://www.propertyinvestmentproject.co.uk/downloads/Condensation-and-Mould.pdf

Good luck! Please let us know what you decide to do and how it turns out

Or just let them leave and take the cleaning costs out of the deposit.

Seriously, I think making a tenant stay when they want to move is like trying to keep a Hungry Cat on your lap.

I know they signed up for longer, but hey, it wasn't to be!

My view, if you have 3 lets, and you want the average to be 3 years, if you get a 4 month one, then fate says the next one might be 5 years 8 months!

Glass half full here..........

Mold.. Bleech, dilute, spray, leave, no mold.

Oh yeah, completely missed that point.

I agree with boboff on that respect. If the tenant's want to leave, let them leave. You may also be able to deduct costs for finding replacement tenants from their deposit.

I'd feel very uncomfortable about forcing a tenant to stay because it's just asking for 'bad/careless tenants' antics.

Quote from: chika on May 06, 2014, 08:40:17 PMA months ago Tenants informed me that they would like to move out early as one of them made an offer to buy a property for himself and offer got accepted.

This is the key point in your post.

The other stuff re. mould is a bit of noise, really. Your decision to not allow them to terminate early is within your rights, but you have to try and balance this with what is happening now. Others have clearly said... there is usually little benefit to you in forcing a Tenant to stay on, or pay for a property they are not living in (the assumption is they'll have to move into the property they've had an offer accepted on). Getting them to stay on for the term might well be a Pyrrhic victory.

Could you reconsider?

If the Tenants are allowed to move on, you could still get something good out of it - an agreed penalty / fee for allowing early termination would be good simply because everyone agreed to it. A normal position would be either a clean break with a fee from them to you, or the agreement that the Tenants can leave but they pay for any re-letting costs... those being the costs of re-marketing and the rent until the property is re-let.

Agreement is so much better than... non-agreement.

Isn't it mould and not mold?

American English Vs British English!

Mold is the British version!

Fair enough.  It's just that Mold is a small town about 10 miles from me aswell.

Ahh I see. I can see how that might be confusing for you.

I can talk to others and kindly request that they use mould instead of mold, if it helps? Also, we could go through all the posts and change mold to mould!

Quote from: propertyfag on May 07, 2014, 08:45:18 AMMold is the British version!

Que? http://grammarist.com/spelling/mold-mould/ - no entiendo!

Yes, we should get a forum script created to make the corrections automatically. How much will it cost? Do we have to contribute? I will put up 50p.

OPW?

Give it time, give it time.............

Destined to be OPW!

Guys thank you very much for such thorough answers. You have been incredibly helpful! The problem with letting them go early is that i was actually planning to sell when their contract finishes. They are supposed to stay till end of October and that is when i can complete on the house without penalties from bank (8K!) to sell before my fixed term mortgage is over! So I am worries to struggle to find something for short term. I was hoping to start marketing in the end of summer for completion at the end of October for the viewing to be while they are there to avoid Void periods, but given the state the flat is in right now, i am worried that i will not be able to achieve the price i am hoping for. so i decided to take advise from property fag and go there with the handyman and solve the problem with the mould (!). i guess at this stage i cant charge them for cleaning but if it happens again after i clean it and placed extractor in, they should pay or deduct from deposit? also if you dont mind -one more question. There was a leak from upstairs which now dried up but paint is peeling in the ceiling in few places -is it something which i need to fix? it is very minor but tenants are saying that they want me to fix it. Thank you very much once again.