damp caused by tenants and deposit problem

[billy4111]

sorry new to here will try to keep it short and sweet....

against better judgement took a brazilian family as tenants have one month deposit, they are now a few days away from final month of tenancy and had advised they cannot afford to stay on.

They have been there six months and due to constant washing, non ventilation of windows as they did not like the cold weather and hanging wet clothes onto radiators caused condensation and damp patches all around the flat . They also without permission drilled holes into outside walls to install Brazil TV Satelite dishes despite me stating I did not want them put up , the wall inside where dish was drilled is now black from floor to ceiling , never a damp problem in this property in 4 years they have been there 6 months .

Now I said I wanted to get quotes for builders to replaster and redecorate walls said I would get 3 indendent quotes to be fair, tenant is insisting his friends who is builder does the work as they admit causing it but feel the quotes are too high, I do not want their builder friend to do work as 1. this is my property, 2. hardly speaks good english, 3. is not independant of them or me have no faith in any of their friends ability, tenant now says will not pay rent for final month unless their friend does the work as they believe I am trying to con them out of losing their deposit, nd I said in that case I would rather they just leave on Tuesday which is 1 month from their leave date.

Any suggestions the walls have all black spots everywhere I am going to find it hard for the work to be carried out while they are there and obvoiusly cannot advertise it for re letting until all this is sorted out .I have brought round Portugese speaking person to try and resolve this and explain but am getting nowhere

[Chestnut]

I would wait until tenants have departed and then have damage refurbished to your satisfaction whilst property is empty, even if it means losing a month's rent. Trying to get something sorted properly whilst this tenant is still occupying will be fraught with difficulty. In any case it sounds like the property would benefit from several days or even weeks being thoroughly aired.

I would focus on the next tenant, not the last one.

[Trenners]

Hi Billy,

Condensation is a common problem - nearly always caused by the tenants not ventaliating the property correctly - that is easily fixed (once the tenants have left the property). This problem has been exacerbated by the very cold winter that we have had this year ....... and I have seen this issue in lots of properties in the last few month and my local Environmental Health Officer tells me that mould in rental properties is common across the county.

To remove the mould you need to wash down the walls with an anti-mould agent. You need to wash down all affected walls and ceilings at the same time because the mould spreads across the house via airborne sporse.

I do not see a need to replaster mould ..... that is excessive and unnecessary .... and I would question the need to redecorate as if you simply paint on top of the mould it will come through the new paint ....... it must be removed using an anti-mould agent.

You also need to be careful how much deposit you withhold for this problem .... as washing down a few walls to remove the mould is hardly going to cost you hundreds of pounds.

Hope that helps ....

Mark

[colin john smith]

it,s been a very hard winter,maybe that,s why you have,nt had the problem before ,I agree washing the walls down with anti-fungi

agent should work ,even household bleach in water will probably do the trick,the key is more airflow ,if you have double glazing

check to see if there are any air vents on them if not consider having some sort of air vents installed in walls or windows .If the

property has airblocks in the walls check if they are blocked ,even spider webs can restrict airflow.prevention is always better

than the cure!!.

[stevie-b]

"tenant is insisting his friends who is builder does the work as they admit causing it but feel the quotes are too high, I do not want their builder friend to do work as 1. this is my property, 2. hardly speaks good english, 3. is not independant of them or me have no faith in any of their friends ability"

I wonder if you could withhold a tenants deposit for not returning the property to a suitable standard when you have stopped the tenant from rectifying any problems themselves.