Sometimes it is the fault of tenants, not always by any means, but it’s absolutely correct that a lack of ventilation or heating can cause mould build-up.
Of course with energy prices as they are people will be tempted to turn the thermostat down and try and retain as much heat as possible in their homes, and that’s understandable, but tenants need to be given information on how to best help reduce mould build up.
Landlords (private or social) should be required to keep their properties in good condition and do repairs as necessary, but not all issues will be down to the landlords. To ignore behavioural issues would be negligent.
I’ve been asked to deal with mould multiple times.
First off old houses where ment to breath nearly everyone had air bricks in bedrooms
First order is to block them up due to cold.
Add in showers with no extractor your letting in a ton of water, by far the single worst thing you can do is dry washing on rads.
That said I’ve also found leaking pipes gutters and failing damp courses causing it.
The issue with that lad that died is no matter what the root cause was that house was unliveable and they should have been moved pending investigation.
Here we go let’s blame the tenants. Maybe Landlords should do their “job” And maintain the property they are being paid for.
How utterly callous to suggest that people don’t heat their homes because they’re ‘stoic’
They can’t afford to.
Slight aside, but I remember my grandparents got free insulation through some gov scheme, then the damp it caused caused unbelievable amounts of damage
It was explained to me years ago, but essentially the design of the house was breathability, remove that, and then add a material that actively absorbs water from moist bricks and your house gets very wet very fast.
Does anyone think a dehumidifier would help in the case of mould?
so in a nutshell the blame for mould and damp will be out on the tennent. yet if it is reported and no one comes to deal with it. who is to blame then ??
WTF. Oh wait, 12 years of Tory government. Yup, this makes perfect sense.
Look, whatever your party colours, surely there is no one who supports this shitshow. Let’s get rid of them (and hopefully for eternity).
I lived in a student house for a year, and was by far the worst experience I’ve had. throughout the year, we had an insane mould issue, (amongst other issues) to the point that there was mould in our pantry. even though we properly ventilated the house, turned on the heating, nothing worked. it was clear there were structural issues. we contacted the property agent countless of times, and all they did was spray mould killer once. after the tenancy ran out, the property agent moved in new people while the mould was still a massive issue.
there needs to be heavy regulation for landlords, because there’s fuck all rights tenants have.
I lived in a home with black mould. Although some of it ( but not all as there were cracks in the chimney) was caused by drying laundry indoors I had no other option. I had no access to a washing line and no room for a tumble dryer. This is the case for many housing association tenants. Plus due to the current energy crisis people aren’t deliberately choosing to not put the heating on. They can’t afford it. They have key meters and no money to top them up. If it’s freezing, which it is right now we can hardly expect people to have windows open. These tower blocks have inadequate ventilation. They can try blame the tenants all they like but I doubt it would stand up in court. Plus are they genuinely suggesting that families are choosing to make their kids Ill with black mould? It’s bloody deadly.
No one I know who owns their own house has a mould problem. Conversely, 80% of the rental properties I’ve lived in have have suffered with mould… go figure.
Oh, tenants don’t put the heating on because they’re ‘stoic’ or too thick to put it on?
Here I was thinking it’s because energy costs are fucking astronomical!
These callous, nasty, diabolical fucks realise this of course, but lie directly to your face and expect you to swallow their fetid lie-turd.
We know who is responsible for the state of the country. Its about time we took action before more of our children go cold and hungry and die of mold while being blamed for it.
Outside of the argument re: who is culpable, Britains housing stock is in massive need of an upgrade. And unless the government get involved it isn’t going to happen and our houses will become more and more decrepit.
Someone who knows a lot about building walls.
Mould starts by warm moist air condensing on or just behind the face of a cold wall.
However no wall should be cold as it should be adequately insulated from the external air. So it’s the landlords fault
>Ceiling collapse, meanwhile, could be caused through the improper use of shower curtains and “lack of caution when bathing”, the guidance says.
So is this simply intended to exempt landlords from all legal liability? Or is it intended to permit landlords to seek compensation from tenants for their own faulty maintenance?
People will just paint over the mold and dodge the issue. No one can afford this. People should just own the home they live in by default, we should have a right to shelter, it’s 2022 and they’re building self driving cars for rich people while children die.
“sToP DrYiNg YoUr ClOtHes InDOOOOOORRRRSSS aNd OpeN ThE WINDOOOOOWWWW!”
*The Landlords magic bullet to curing mould forever and ever.*
(Just ignore the fact that your slumlord box has structural issues that are literally painted over between tenancies.)
Landlords are in a class of their own, they tend to be wealthy and greedy, which goes hand in hand with the politicians that dictate our affairs. Colour me surprised.
Why do I feel like I’m reading something from a Dickens novel?
Ok, so we have had mould issues, current flat doesn’t have a tumbler dryer so we’re forced to leave clothes out to dry, so we do occasionally get mould and if we don’t keep on top of it it can be a problem, but the kid in the picture…
“At its worst, she [his mum] says the kitchen wall ‘was black’ with mould, while bedrooms would ‘smell’ **with water ‘coming down the wall to the floor**’.”
I had this as a student in a really badly maintained basement flat. Landlord said it was because I was drying clothes in there but I had raised issues with the damp as soon as I moved in. Still didn’t do anything. Twat.
Wait a minute, so they raise the price of heating so it’s no longer affordable for many and then will penalise them for not using heating
There’s more to it than this. Yes, residents’ “behaviour” is taken into account, but the housing ombudsman’s “Spotlight on Damp & Mould: It’s Not Lifestyle” report specifically instructs social landlords to not pin the blame on residents, rather, to look at structure and ventilation adequacy and not just blame damp and mould on washing being dried indoors. It was written following its request for evidence from the public and taking into consideration the Housing and Levelling Up guidance: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/corporate-information/publications/spotlight-on-reports/
I had awful mould in a flat I lived in. The heating didn’t work at all. Landlady refused to do anything about it as ‘the light (on the rad) is on, see? So it’s working.’ She was a horrible, patronising witch. She said the mould was our fault because the flat was ‘over occupied’ (just my husband and I). I walked past there not long ago and saw that the flat is now rented to a family of four…
Sometimes fair enough, it’s better to open windows, not dry clothes on radiators and use a dehumidifier…
But I think it’s a little more nuanced than that. Some houses have bigger issues with insulation, damp proofing, leaking roofs.
Surely they’re not going to blame tenants for *all* forms of mould problems? Who actually sits there and decides what caused it?
I have 2 dehumidifiers & air purifiers (both Meaco, very quiet and cheap to run) on 24 hours a day. They ping the ambient humidity and kick in when it goes over the setting I have set (55%)
I did not know I had a problem until I bought 2 humidity clocks, one for the upstairs and one down, showing the humidity levels of 75% or more. Up until then I was ignorant of the importance of maintaining <60% humidity, I was drying clothes inside, showering and not opening the window, closing the bedroom door when sleeping etc, cooking and not opening the windows.
The rooms also feel warmer, when the humidity is kept in check, and the black mould on the windows and corners of room have gone.
I’ve spent enough time on the DIY subs to know that the average person (even one who is a bit more handy than the average person by way of being part of a DIY sub) has absolutely no clue what the fuck they are doing or talking about when it comes to ‘causing’ mold (or the issues that may lead to mold or other hazards)
They just repeat the same soaked-up-advertising scammy bullshit lines and pat each other on the back for doing so
This boils my fucking piss. Truly. Lived in an old Edwardian house that had been cannibalised into three separate flats. When it rained you could literally see water running down the chimney breast, letting agents answer “it’s an old house they all do that” half of the flat was unliveable due to the mould and we basically lived in the kitchen/living room which we heated with space heaters at great cost because the shitty storage heaters did nothing. Every month I’d have to go in there with a spray bottle of watered down bleach, and spray the walls down to get rid of the black mould. The air was so thick with bleach it used to burn your eyes and lungs. The letting agents took our deposit because we “didn’t clean the mould sufficiently”. Landlords and letting agents are the fucking scum of the earth
A dehumidifier is a must for winter in most properties. My landlord wont even bother fixing a door. I’ve said fuck it and painted with a fungicide on certain walls and ceilings. The property had mold when I moved in. It was August… Better than the prior property though, which is just depressing.
I’d say impose stricter checks etc but the expense will just be passed on to the renter. It’s probably best to rack up the electric bill than to live in mold.
how to get rid of mould? there was some on my window the other day and i wiped it down with a damp cloth. probably a spray i can use
‘Other factors they will be required to consider include whether people are exposing themselves to excessively low temperatures due to ignorance, a “stoic and often embedded attitude” to cold or desire to “reduce carbon emissions”, ‘
What a fucking joke, the Guardian should be ashamed for not pushing back on statements like this when energy and gas prices are skyrocketing.
Blaming tenants for not being able to afford heating is dystopic af
Seeing that story is so so sad but also worrying for me, my rented house is full of damp and I have asthma. I tried to leave the heating on high for a day and it cost me £10. This poor boy won’t be the only one who suffers this winter
Opening windows when it’s cold is a hardship but necessary for airflow to expell humid air . Unless there’s a water penetration problem most mildew and mold can be curtailed by ventilation a mold and mildew spray bought quite cheaply from a supermarket.im no expert but a living being in a house and there are steps u need to take .
33 comments
Sometimes it is the fault of tenants, not always by any means, but it’s absolutely correct that a lack of ventilation or heating can cause mould build-up.
Of course with energy prices as they are people will be tempted to turn the thermostat down and try and retain as much heat as possible in their homes, and that’s understandable, but tenants need to be given information on how to best help reduce mould build up.
Landlords (private or social) should be required to keep their properties in good condition and do repairs as necessary, but not all issues will be down to the landlords. To ignore behavioural issues would be negligent.
I’ve been asked to deal with mould multiple times.
First off old houses where ment to breath nearly everyone had air bricks in bedrooms
First order is to block them up due to cold.
Add in showers with no extractor your letting in a ton of water, by far the single worst thing you can do is dry washing on rads.
That said I’ve also found leaking pipes gutters and failing damp courses causing it.
The issue with that lad that died is no matter what the root cause was that house was unliveable and they should have been moved pending investigation.
Here we go let’s blame the tenants. Maybe Landlords should do their “job” And maintain the property they are being paid for.
How utterly callous to suggest that people don’t heat their homes because they’re ‘stoic’
They can’t afford to.
Slight aside, but I remember my grandparents got free insulation through some gov scheme, then the damp it caused caused unbelievable amounts of damage
It was explained to me years ago, but essentially the design of the house was breathability, remove that, and then add a material that actively absorbs water from moist bricks and your house gets very wet very fast.
Does anyone think a dehumidifier would help in the case of mould?
so in a nutshell the blame for mould and damp will be out on the tennent. yet if it is reported and no one comes to deal with it. who is to blame then ??
WTF. Oh wait, 12 years of Tory government. Yup, this makes perfect sense.
Look, whatever your party colours, surely there is no one who supports this shitshow. Let’s get rid of them (and hopefully for eternity).
I lived in a student house for a year, and was by far the worst experience I’ve had. throughout the year, we had an insane mould issue, (amongst other issues) to the point that there was mould in our pantry. even though we properly ventilated the house, turned on the heating, nothing worked. it was clear there were structural issues. we contacted the property agent countless of times, and all they did was spray mould killer once. after the tenancy ran out, the property agent moved in new people while the mould was still a massive issue.
there needs to be heavy regulation for landlords, because there’s fuck all rights tenants have.
I lived in a home with black mould. Although some of it ( but not all as there were cracks in the chimney) was caused by drying laundry indoors I had no other option. I had no access to a washing line and no room for a tumble dryer. This is the case for many housing association tenants. Plus due to the current energy crisis people aren’t deliberately choosing to not put the heating on. They can’t afford it. They have key meters and no money to top them up. If it’s freezing, which it is right now we can hardly expect people to have windows open. These tower blocks have inadequate ventilation. They can try blame the tenants all they like but I doubt it would stand up in court. Plus are they genuinely suggesting that families are choosing to make their kids Ill with black mould? It’s bloody deadly.
No one I know who owns their own house has a mould problem. Conversely, 80% of the rental properties I’ve lived in have have suffered with mould… go figure.
Oh, tenants don’t put the heating on because they’re ‘stoic’ or too thick to put it on?
Here I was thinking it’s because energy costs are fucking astronomical!
These callous, nasty, diabolical fucks realise this of course, but lie directly to your face and expect you to swallow their fetid lie-turd.
We know who is responsible for the state of the country. Its about time we took action before more of our children go cold and hungry and die of mold while being blamed for it.
Outside of the argument re: who is culpable, Britains housing stock is in massive need of an upgrade. And unless the government get involved it isn’t going to happen and our houses will become more and more decrepit.
Someone who knows a lot about building walls.
Mould starts by warm moist air condensing on or just behind the face of a cold wall.
However no wall should be cold as it should be adequately insulated from the external air. So it’s the landlords fault
>Ceiling collapse, meanwhile, could be caused through the improper use of shower curtains and “lack of caution when bathing”, the guidance says.
So is this simply intended to exempt landlords from all legal liability? Or is it intended to permit landlords to seek compensation from tenants for their own faulty maintenance?
People will just paint over the mold and dodge the issue. No one can afford this. People should just own the home they live in by default, we should have a right to shelter, it’s 2022 and they’re building self driving cars for rich people while children die.
“sToP DrYiNg YoUr ClOtHes InDOOOOOORRRRSSS aNd OpeN ThE WINDOOOOOWWWW!”
*The Landlords magic bullet to curing mould forever and ever.*
(Just ignore the fact that your slumlord box has structural issues that are literally painted over between tenancies.)
Landlords are in a class of their own, they tend to be wealthy and greedy, which goes hand in hand with the politicians that dictate our affairs. Colour me surprised.
Why do I feel like I’m reading something from a Dickens novel?
Ok, so we have had mould issues, current flat doesn’t have a tumbler dryer so we’re forced to leave clothes out to dry, so we do occasionally get mould and if we don’t keep on top of it it can be a problem, but the kid in the picture…
“At its worst, she [his mum] says the kitchen wall ‘was black’ with mould, while bedrooms would ‘smell’ **with water ‘coming down the wall to the floor**’.”
[https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/two-year-old-dead-children-24702122.amp](https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/two-year-old-dead-children-24702122.amp)
That isn’t something you can keep on top of
I had this as a student in a really badly maintained basement flat. Landlord said it was because I was drying clothes in there but I had raised issues with the damp as soon as I moved in. Still didn’t do anything. Twat.
Wait a minute, so they raise the price of heating so it’s no longer affordable for many and then will penalise them for not using heating
There’s more to it than this. Yes, residents’ “behaviour” is taken into account, but the housing ombudsman’s “Spotlight on Damp & Mould: It’s Not Lifestyle” report specifically instructs social landlords to not pin the blame on residents, rather, to look at structure and ventilation adequacy and not just blame damp and mould on washing being dried indoors. It was written following its request for evidence from the public and taking into consideration the Housing and Levelling Up guidance:
https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/corporate-information/publications/spotlight-on-reports/
I had awful mould in a flat I lived in. The heating didn’t work at all. Landlady refused to do anything about it as ‘the light (on the rad) is on, see? So it’s working.’ She was a horrible, patronising witch. She said the mould was our fault because the flat was ‘over occupied’ (just my husband and I). I walked past there not long ago and saw that the flat is now rented to a family of four…
Sometimes fair enough, it’s better to open windows, not dry clothes on radiators and use a dehumidifier…
But I think it’s a little more nuanced than that. Some houses have bigger issues with insulation, damp proofing, leaking roofs.
Surely they’re not going to blame tenants for *all* forms of mould problems? Who actually sits there and decides what caused it?
I have 2 dehumidifiers & air purifiers (both Meaco, very quiet and cheap to run) on 24 hours a day. They ping the ambient humidity and kick in when it goes over the setting I have set (55%)
I did not know I had a problem until I bought 2 humidity clocks, one for the upstairs and one down, showing the humidity levels of 75% or more. Up until then I was ignorant of the importance of maintaining <60% humidity, I was drying clothes inside, showering and not opening the window, closing the bedroom door when sleeping etc, cooking and not opening the windows.
The rooms also feel warmer, when the humidity is kept in check, and the black mould on the windows and corners of room have gone.
I’ve spent enough time on the DIY subs to know that the average person (even one who is a bit more handy than the average person by way of being part of a DIY sub) has absolutely no clue what the fuck they are doing or talking about when it comes to ‘causing’ mold (or the issues that may lead to mold or other hazards)
They just repeat the same soaked-up-advertising scammy bullshit lines and pat each other on the back for doing so
This boils my fucking piss. Truly. Lived in an old Edwardian house that had been cannibalised into three separate flats. When it rained you could literally see water running down the chimney breast, letting agents answer “it’s an old house they all do that” half of the flat was unliveable due to the mould and we basically lived in the kitchen/living room which we heated with space heaters at great cost because the shitty storage heaters did nothing. Every month I’d have to go in there with a spray bottle of watered down bleach, and spray the walls down to get rid of the black mould. The air was so thick with bleach it used to burn your eyes and lungs. The letting agents took our deposit because we “didn’t clean the mould sufficiently”. Landlords and letting agents are the fucking scum of the earth
A dehumidifier is a must for winter in most properties. My landlord wont even bother fixing a door. I’ve said fuck it and painted with a fungicide on certain walls and ceilings. The property had mold when I moved in. It was August… Better than the prior property though, which is just depressing.
I’d say impose stricter checks etc but the expense will just be passed on to the renter. It’s probably best to rack up the electric bill than to live in mold.
how to get rid of mould? there was some on my window the other day and i wiped it down with a damp cloth. probably a spray i can use
‘Other factors they will be required to consider include whether people are exposing themselves to excessively low temperatures due to ignorance, a “stoic and often embedded attitude” to cold or desire to “reduce carbon emissions”, ‘
What a fucking joke, the Guardian should be ashamed for not pushing back on statements like this when energy and gas prices are skyrocketing.
Blaming tenants for not being able to afford heating is dystopic af
Seeing that story is so so sad but also worrying for me, my rented house is full of damp and I have asthma. I tried to leave the heating on high for a day and it cost me £10. This poor boy won’t be the only one who suffers this winter
Opening windows when it’s cold is a hardship but necessary for airflow to expell humid air . Unless there’s a water penetration problem most mildew and mold can be curtailed by ventilation a mold and mildew spray bought quite cheaply from a supermarket.im no expert but a living being in a house and there are steps u need to take .