UK Landlord Forum / Life

My father's tenant is wanting to leave the flat because of damp. He says that damp has flared his asthma up. The bathroom gets lots of condensation in it due to it not having a window but there is a fan in there. The bedroom is on a gable end which gets quite cold. He's been told to leave the heat on a low heat in the bedroom to try and stop this however the wall probably needs cavity wall insulation or something. Where does my father stand? tenant has 9 months on his contract but says asthma flared up as soon as he moved in.

Has the Tenant indicated they would like to leave without anything further? Just up and go?

I would be inclined to let a Tenant who wasn't happy in one of my properties (for any reason) go if that's what they wanted. However, if they had signed a fixed term contract and the property was, effectively, habitable then I would expect them to pay me rent until we (them or me) found another acceptable Tenant. In addition, any re-marketing costs incurred.

That just seems fair.

What you don't want is you trying to hold a Tenant in-place for another 9 months, doing whatever to the property, not happy, maybe thinking about withholding rent or suing you or getting the Environmental Health involved etc..

By rights, you can enforce them staying or you can let them leave but they pay rent for the entire term. That, also, doesn't feel right to me.

What can you do?

Legally, he has signed a contract, which he must honor.

Morally ?

Heating is definitely the answer.

Hi,
How damp is damp? condensation is to be expected in some properties i.e properties without double glazing and without a window in a bathroom its bound to happen, check the extractor fan is working properly and not been switched off, tenants often switch these off as they are noisy and don't understand the problems it can cause.  Things like mould etc are not good it can indeed trigger the symptoms you have explained, is there an issue with outside water gaining entry? do the gutters need some attention? without knowing more its hard to say.

Ventilation to the property is going to help, in winter it is important to open windows regularly, even if it is for just 30 mins a day.

If you have major damp problems get them fixed or sell up, who is going to want to rent a damp property?

would you?