So we've been living in our rented basement flat for 5 months now, and with the onset of winter we've had a problem with mould & mildew.
The problem started a few weeks ago when we moved our bedroom around and found blue mould growing on the wall behind where the wardrobe was, between the bedroom and bathroom (the same wall that the bath is against in the bathroom). It ruined several pairs of my partner's shoes as well as a few items of clothing. Our letting agent, Parkland, had a guy come out and clean it up, but he didn't do anything else - check for a leak, check under the bath, look around any other likely places and so forth. In the last week or so we've noticed that the wall is again contaminated, this time with mildew.
In addition to this, there's damp near the front door damaging the wallpaper in the hallway. There's also damp in the bedroom by the window - the bedroom is at the front of the property, west-facing, and has secondary glazing on the inside with a sash window on the outside, blocked so that it only opens 6 inches or so. Since we have very poor airflow and heating in the flat, we get a hell of a lot of condensation building up on the inside of the window and soaking the window sill. There's mould or mildew starting to grow on the wall near the window. We've also found black mould in the upper corner of the kitchen, which is at the back of the property, and our toastie maker (which is always cleaned properly whenever it's used) has just been found tonight in the cupboard covered in mould, but so far nothing in the lounge, in the middle of the flat.
The flat is heated by two electric storage heaters, one in the lounge and one in the hallway between the bedroom and bathroom doors. The bedroom, bathroom and kitchen are all unheated, barring what radiates through from the main body of teh flat. Being in a basement flat, air flow is a real problem - especially with the onset of winter, we can't leave windows and doors open at any reasonable time. Because of the nature of the heaters, we can only heat the flat by charging up the heaters on cheaper rate electricity overnight and leaving them to throw out heat during the day. Each heater lasts all day on max setting with the mains switches off, but doing this every night will prove to be very expensive.
So, to the population of GD - What can we do to clear up the mould and mildew, and what is our letting agent obligated to do? How far can we push them to solve this problem long-term? Assuming we can get them to sort out the damp in the hallway, can we insist on new windows for the bedroom that don't lead to so much condensation build-up? Can we push for better ventilation in the bathroom, which has no windows and no air flow beyond a highly ineffectual, tiny little fan that vents to the back of the flat only while the light switch is on? Is there anything they can do to make the flat less humid? Will they have to fumigate the place? Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with them, as it's a fairly safe bet they're going to be reluctant to spend any more than they have to?
One final note - the property is managed by Parkland, but on behalf of the landlord/owner. This just means any requests for assistance have to be pending him getting back to them and authorising it, which normally takes him a day or so. We've never met him.
The problem started a few weeks ago when we moved our bedroom around and found blue mould growing on the wall behind where the wardrobe was, between the bedroom and bathroom (the same wall that the bath is against in the bathroom). It ruined several pairs of my partner's shoes as well as a few items of clothing. Our letting agent, Parkland, had a guy come out and clean it up, but he didn't do anything else - check for a leak, check under the bath, look around any other likely places and so forth. In the last week or so we've noticed that the wall is again contaminated, this time with mildew.
In addition to this, there's damp near the front door damaging the wallpaper in the hallway. There's also damp in the bedroom by the window - the bedroom is at the front of the property, west-facing, and has secondary glazing on the inside with a sash window on the outside, blocked so that it only opens 6 inches or so. Since we have very poor airflow and heating in the flat, we get a hell of a lot of condensation building up on the inside of the window and soaking the window sill. There's mould or mildew starting to grow on the wall near the window. We've also found black mould in the upper corner of the kitchen, which is at the back of the property, and our toastie maker (which is always cleaned properly whenever it's used) has just been found tonight in the cupboard covered in mould, but so far nothing in the lounge, in the middle of the flat.
The flat is heated by two electric storage heaters, one in the lounge and one in the hallway between the bedroom and bathroom doors. The bedroom, bathroom and kitchen are all unheated, barring what radiates through from the main body of teh flat. Being in a basement flat, air flow is a real problem - especially with the onset of winter, we can't leave windows and doors open at any reasonable time. Because of the nature of the heaters, we can only heat the flat by charging up the heaters on cheaper rate electricity overnight and leaving them to throw out heat during the day. Each heater lasts all day on max setting with the mains switches off, but doing this every night will prove to be very expensive.
So, to the population of GD - What can we do to clear up the mould and mildew, and what is our letting agent obligated to do? How far can we push them to solve this problem long-term? Assuming we can get them to sort out the damp in the hallway, can we insist on new windows for the bedroom that don't lead to so much condensation build-up? Can we push for better ventilation in the bathroom, which has no windows and no air flow beyond a highly ineffectual, tiny little fan that vents to the back of the flat only while the light switch is on? Is there anything they can do to make the flat less humid? Will they have to fumigate the place? Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with them, as it's a fairly safe bet they're going to be reluctant to spend any more than they have to?
One final note - the property is managed by Parkland, but on behalf of the landlord/owner. This just means any requests for assistance have to be pending him getting back to them and authorising it, which normally takes him a day or so. We've never met him.
