Been told we have to pay redecorating costs for damp/mould in the hall and bathroom of rental we have moved out of. We reported damp problem throughout tenancy and hounded them to add a fans to bathroom and kitchen.

Do I have any recourse?

Joke – you don’t pay

I’d expect the TDS to laugh at this claim, especially if you have written communication proof of you reporting the damp during the tenancy.

Do I have any recourse?

do you have any record of your hounding ?
Their argument to the contrary might be emails from your landlord asking you to stop drying clothes on the radiators etc
WHo’s told you you “have to pay” ?
When you say you’ve moved out, did you have an inspection on leaving and was anything said/written then ?

Just asking – I have no expertise to offer

Do it all through the bond holding company. That’s why you and landlord do it.

They have our deposit.

A lot of mould is on foam ceiling tiles, anyone know if these are illegal in rentals?

<shudders> a major fire hazard, given you bathroom is probably like a swamp they’ll be ok 😉 are they elsewhere throughout the property?

<edit> http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/content/polystyrene-ceiling-tiles

The landlord shouldn’t be holding your deposit…

We bought a tumble dryer after first signs of damp.

We had inspections every six months, where damp was reported and they said they would fix. We also had final inspection which is when they said we will be charged.

Sorry you are right, landlord does not have deposit. Never been charged in 7 rentals, so not sure how disputes work.

If the landlord is holding your deposit rather than using a bond company then he has broken the law and is liable for large fines.

No you should not be paying for damp / mould unless you have done something to cause it and even then its hard to show.

Get yourself down to a CAB or similar.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/tenancy_deposits

Thanks for the link

Dispute claim. Produce copies of any correspondence you have. Ask for copies of any damp reports they’ve had done.
Could be that they’re trying to sting you for something that is not a tenant lifestyle issue (drying washing indoors, not wiping windows down, not using extractor fans, not ventilating the property) Any number of issues could be the cause – failing damp course, porous brick work, roof leak into cavity wall, blocked gutters and drains, rising damp.
You should have been given details of where your deposit is being held so the landlord shouldn’t be holding the deposit. It should be in an approved scheme.

If they try to keep any of it relating to the damp, complain to the TDS. In the meantime, document every conversation – dates, times, who with and what was said. Keep copies of emails etc.

I’d also make and keep a record of every communication made clearing this up. State your case to the landlord in writing and that you’ll be charging him at your normal hourly rate for your time spent refuting his allegations. Do you have in writing the reports you made about the damp ?

Depends who’s fault the mould is.

Our tenants dried clothes everywhere, the whole flat went mouldy. At which point blaming the landlord is about as valid as taking a dump on the hallway carpet and claiming they should have installed another toilet. Unfortunately some people can’t get their head around the idea that windows are supposed to open!

In the end we just went in, opened the windows and went round with a bucket of bleach and a roll of wallpaper for the worst corner. Miraculously the sponge must have been magic as the flat went back to it’s mould free self (we lived there for 10 years).

I moved out of a property about 6months ago, where the Landlord tried to take £260 off us for cleaning. (Was cleaner than when we moved in, we had photos from when we moved in and out)

We attempted to mediate with the landlord and letting agency directly, but they refused to budge. So we went to the deposit company (ours was MyDeposits). They had an online form where you filled in all the details and uploaded evidence (photos, emails etc.)

This evidence goes to an independent adjudicator who goes over all the evidence and decides if the landlord deserves the money. It is up to the landlord to prove you caused the damp, and supply evidence/bills for works etc.

Our landlord never responded to the deposit people so we got it all back.

The whole process took about 3 months.

I had to use the dispute process once. The landlord tried to take quite a big chunk off the deposit for petty stuff that already there when we moved in. They also tried to charge for damp issues I’d asked them to investigate (caused by external drainage, nothing to do with clothes or whatever).

It’s fine if you don’t need any of the deposit back quickly. It comes down who can supply evidence, but it’s also an administrative ball ache so you can use that to grind the other party down if you so wish.

For example, landlord submits list of deductions. You query a charge of £17.99 for a light sitting supplying evidence that it’s £8.99 in screwfix. They reply then you raise something else. If there is a letting agent involved all this just destroys their margin on the let so will want to just close it and give the whole lot back.

Definitely dispute.

g5604 – Member

Been told we have to pay redecorating costs for damp/mould in the hall and bathroom of rental we have moved out of. We reported damp problem throughout tenancy and hounded them to add a fans to bathroom and kitchen.

Do I have any recourse?

Tread **** carefully!

The Bond Holding Company aren’t judges, they are “evidence based” aka thick.

I moved out of a flat complaining about it being freezing cold and damp, which it was.

The LL did me £900 on the bond for redecorating – he had an invoice to say he’d redecorated and I had… well nothing. That was it, case closed, I was and still am completely baffled.

The guy at the bond place even mentioned the LL had done the same to 2 previous tenants.

My ‘case’ went like this:

Me. The Flat is cold and damp, the damp damaged the walls.
LL. No it’s not, you didn’t open the windows.
Me. It was the coldest winter in 80 odd years and the heating didn’t work, not once, in the 12 months I suffered that place.
LL. Yes it does.
Bond People: We’re sorry you can’t agree, could we have your evidence please.
LL. Here’s an invoice (from my Mate) for the exact amount of the bond to repaint a flat – £900.
Me. Erm…
Bond People: case closed.

I’m still angry about it.

I got done in a similar manner to PJay when I last moved out of a rental.

We left the house much cleaner than when we moved in but the letting agent went and photographed it in a way that made it look like we hadn’t. They then had a nice little trick of entering our contact details incorrectly into the deposit system, so by the time we could access it the dispute was closed and awarded to the the landlord and agents. Raised a complaint with the deposit company and they rejected it 👿
I even knew what the letting agents reputation beforehand and we still took the property 🙄
There were a couple of genuine charges on there that we would have been fine to pay for but some was just fiction and cost us a lot of money

When you moved in there should be an inventory document with pics? And also one when you move out which is provided by the agents. Plus any emails to the agents; this should form the basis of the evidence.

Jeepers some people really are arses. I rent a property out. At the end of the lease I walk round with the tenant checking for any damage and then come to a reasonable agreement on the spot. Never had to take more than £50 of any of them. I know in a way I have been lucky but equally we let it for below market rent so we get loads of folk wanting to take it so can pick and chose.

Damp is the landlords problem.

Mould is usually caused by condensation, not damp, and that is more usually the result of tenant behaviour. Drying clothes indoors, not ventilating, etc. A side effect of energy efficiency is that modern properties don’t “breathe” and moisture is retained as well as heat.

a few months a go went to a rental property to do other work, tenant showed me a few faults that needed remedying quite soon, one was damp in the enclosed bathroom no external window or a fan, tenant not happy, and landlord planning on doing nothing, will just incure more costs later on in the rental instead of a few quid now.

We bought a tumble dryer after first signs of damp.

A condensing drier, that collects the water for you, or was it vented to outside?

Well after many phone calls etc,disputing many different claims.. they are withholding £100 to paint over the foam bathroom tiles.

The won’t put anything in writing or go through the dps. I have opened a dispute. Interestingly they do hold the deposit as the scheme is an insurance backed one. They also missed the 10 day deadline.

The won’t put anything in writing or go through the dps

I’d suggest that you do.

Interestingly they do hold the deposit as the scheme is an insurance backed one.

Is that legal?

I think it is legal – but I am supprised. Other properties everything was done through the DPS and we even got interest

I think it is legal – but I am supprised. Other properties everything was done through the DPS and we even got interest

Find out. If it isn’t legal and your deposit isn’t held where it should be you could get 3x the deposit returned.

A side effect of energy efficiency is that modern properties don’t “breathe” and moisture is retained as well as heat.

Yes. Do people actually not think you need fresh clean dry air in a house. As we speak our bathroom and bedroom windows are open.

There is a clothes airer in the hall which has a dehumidifier running beside it. A 200w rating it can run for 15hrs for the cost of 1hr of a 3Kw tumble drier. Only used it winter. In summer having windows open through the house gets enough airflow through the hall and we mostly use an outside clothes line anyway.