UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hey,

I've recently closed a situation with my landlord, and it has since been pointed it to me that he has not acted properly - I'd welcome any thoughts.

The seal on our shower door was ineffective and leaking for some time, unfortunately because the lino in the bathroom was fitted a half centimeter away from the fixture, instead of leaving a puddle on the floor it eventually dripped through onto the kitchen ceiling - this was when I noticed.

Due to my work being busy there was a slight delay in informing the landlord (although we immediately took extra precaution to prevent the problem getting worse) of about two weeks.

The landlord claimed we were not using the property in a tenant like manor and has made me replace the seals myself, as well as the lino in the bathroom because it was wet (which he pulled up without my consent or knowledge), and repaint the kitchen ceiling - not cheap! I think in total this has cost me around £600 to make repairs to his property which were caused due to the poor quality of the job done before we moved in.

What are my rights here? Am I at fault because of the two week delay? Should I have noticed sooner?

We've also had mold problems in the bedroom, with black mold from the floor to the ceiling throughout the entire winter. When he was shown it, he told my girlfriend that "that's just what happens in an old house" and that she had to clean it off and repaint, which she did. This doesn't seem right to me - we properly heat and ventilate the property so it should be his responsibility to ensure there isn't damp/mold beyond that, right?

One of my biggest problems with this is that I didn't take pictures of the property when I moved in, quite simply because I'm an idiot.

Escape of water can do a lot of damage in two weeks.  Well, in fact, it can do a lot of damage in five minutes.  When there's a leak into plasterwork, the landlord needs telling promptly, and I don't blame him for being peeved about that.  But then, I check the shower seals before I let anything out, and if that much damage had happened in one of my houses, I'd claim on the insurance.  All I'd charge my tenant would be the excess (so £150-ish).  And if a contractor left me with lino half a centimetre out from the wall, I'd call him back to the house and tell him he needs to fix that if he wants to get paid.

Mould is a constant problem for me.  Personally, I live in the fens and humidity tends to average 60-65% -- ideal conditions for mould growth.  In my own house I run a log burner as well as gas central heating, so as to dry the air a bit, and in winter I've got a dehumidifier running all day as well, and I still have to wipe down certain problem walls with a mild bleach solution every week to keep the mould under control.  A couple of the properties I let have bathrooms that don't have windows, and I give detailed guidance to my tenants about running the extractor fan, leaving the right doors open and the benefits of regularly using a Febreze bottle with a 10% bleach solution in it.

I'm afraid that as this is after the fact and you've already agreed to do these things at your expense, you probably don't have any legal recourse now.  As soon as your contract's up, move house.  Find a better landlord.

If a property is adequately heated, ventilated and insulated then mould and condensation type problems are going to be the responsibility of the Tenants. The question is if the property is. It often comes down to Tenant Lifestyle... which sounds accusatory in its nature, but what it means is not letting air flow, drying clothes indoors on radiators - things like that. It's not a judgement, it's just saying these kinds of things introduce problems. You do mention it has been the entire winter... but I don't know if that's how long you've lived there, or whether your own actions could be exacerbating the issue.

I wouldn't beat yourself up about this too much... plenty of people don't do the checks they should when they're excited about moving into a new place... what I would be checking is if the Deposit you paid is protected correctly. If it is then it would tell me that the Landlord is not a total unprofessional chancer... and I'd probably err on the side of them being reasonable, tho' if I felt put-out by the delay in being informed I'd probably still offer to share the burden... not force a Tenant to do it all. If it isn't protected then £600 isn't going to matter to you soon. It's not unknown for Tenants to do minor repair jobs themselves, y'know? Because sometimes it's better to have an easy life in a nice environment than it is to fight everything. I think £100 would be about my limit, though... £600 is a fair whack.

Thanks for the response from both of you - useful stuff.

@Mortimer - I understand water can damage a property swiftly, I probably didn't clarify clearly - it was only a slight trickle of water (rather than gushing), so I think the damage has been caused over a long period of time.From the upstairs there was virtually no indication of any leak it was so small, only when the lino was pulled back and the soaked floorboard revealed did it become apparent upstairs.

Part of my point is that all of this could have been avoided if his contractor had done a proper job in the first place.

@Hippogriff, we've only lived here one winter. I understand that the tenants lifestyle can be the main cause of mould (having lived with people who didn't understand this in student accommodation years ago), but we do everything possible - ventilate, heat, no damp clothes inside, dehumidifiers etc. - to prevent this, which makes me question if more could be done by the landlord. He has also confessed that he sees mould in the same place every winter. In fact, one wall in our house has a large portion of the paint rotted off, and he has confessed this is his responsibility to repair but after months is yet to do so...

You mention that the sealant was worn away for some time.If you realised that,then you really should have bought some and applied it yourself.Waiting so long to report a leak is hardly fair either-it takes a minute to send a text or make a call,so being busy at work is hardly relevant.The landlord could hardly assess the damage without lifting the lino.I don't think I would have expected you to cover all the costs,but along with black mould I think I would have issued notice to quit.Mould does not spread all over in one day,so it could have been tackled before it took a hold.It is all part of everyday housekeeping,whether you own or rent your place.