Letting agents - more woe

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Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2004
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15,365
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SO16
I can't be the only person who just hates these guys with a fiery passion. Obviously not all of them, but the ones I've come into contact with are bloody awful.

We've recently had a problem in our flat with damp in the walls. We've been on at them since November to get it sorted, but it's only recently when the humidity has been affecting my breathing (and caused a £125 bill from BT for a rotten cable they repaired!) that we've really been getting on their case to sort this out.

The North West/East, can't remember which - the coldest, corner in our flat is drenched in mould. We've been told by them that we need to have our heating on all the time, maxxed and the window open to get rid of the moisture in the air. We've been doing this (the reason that there's so much damp is the double glazing has removed the main ventilation in the flat, and as such the cold air just congregates in the corner next to the window) and matters have only been getting worse, so I figure something more than leaving windows open and heating on needs to be done.

I spoke to the letting agent yesterday and have said that I want it sorted by them because this isn't something we should have to deal with (imo) and the guy said that he'd been there and the problem was bad enough that he thinks we should move to a different place so they can sort it. I also spoke to the guy downstairs who had the same problem 3 years ago, and he said that the only way to get rid of it is to strip the paint back and dry-line the wall and replace the carpet - this is what I want to happen. After having spoken to the letting agent today, they've spoken to my landlord who has said that he's of the opinion that if we keep the room ventilated (we have been!) then the problem will go away (it hasn't). The letting agent apparently agrees with the landlord because that's what he does and he hasn't got mould in his house (I feel like I'm speaking to a brick wall, really, they're just not listening and changing their opinions on the matter daily - he's now decided to just get someone in to clean the walls).

Thing is, I'm now sick of this. I'm having to spend a substantial portion of my day on the phone to these jackasses when it should've been sorted months ago when the advice they first gave us didn't work.

I know this is a long shot, and I've probably explained this quite poorly because I'm so angry, but what would anyone here do in my situation? I know nothing about houses/architecture and the letters/landlord seem to be aware of this and taking full advantage of it. I'm totally stuck on what to do because I can't sort this out in the week! Do I have a leg to stand on? Should I really be running my heating all day and leaving the window open to get rid of this problem? That seems like a ridiculous waste of money to me.
 
I think if I don't have any luck with them, that'll be the next port of call. I'd just rather they had the competency to sort it out without me having to go to environmental health and the CAB
 
so, correct me if I'm wrong, if the flat is inherently susceptible to damp that's still not my problem? I'm of the opinion that suitable ventilation should be in place so that I don't have to have my heaters on and windows open all day - is this a misconception?
 
to avoid confusion, goldilocks is the other tenant

ace, thanks stinky. IIRC, you're an estate agent aren't you?
 
You shouldn't have to 'put up with it'. The landlord is being a cheap bugger by not paying to sort it out and he knows it. Its terrible that it was let that way in the first place, it shouldn't have been on the market.

thing is that it looked clean in the summer, but I guess they cleaned it up and painted it so people wouldn't notice. It's a difficult situation for me, because I'm not unreasonable and I think stuff like this shouldn't be my problem but I want to make sure it's actually not my problem before I start asking for stuff to be done

and thanks Stinky, I may take you up on that!
 
If the damp had been created by you through your own neglect, then it would be your problem. Was an inventory check-in done at the start of the tenancy? Is there any written documentation that mentions the damp being there before you moved in?

to my knowledge (I'll have to check later) there's no record of any damp on the inventory, but if it's been covered up then we won't have been able to spot it when we made amendments to it.

We grudgingly keep the windows open and heating on as much as possible (our downstairs neighbour says that this could all be sorted if we had the right sort of double glazing in that room) but I don't see that as a long term solution - it certainly isn't cheap! we've done everything they suggested to do to keep it away but it just hasn't worked.
 
as soon as it started getting cold and mould started appearing. If it was in the inventory we'd never have moved in! it's in the bedroom
 
it's managed by a company employed by the owners of the property. contracting work is organised by the letters, but the actual management is down to the owners
 
yeah, if I enter into correspondence with them, it'll be typed and posted. I know how easy it is to fake emails ;)
 
right, I've spoken to the maintenance guy just now (he's new and I have a feeling I'm going to have to convince him the hard way that we've tried what he's suggesting and it doesn't work!) and they're going to clean the mould up, I'm running the heater with the window open on the drip tray so I can prove to this guy that it's not enough. I'm going to make a comparison between the cost of running with the heating all day and running normally (we rarely use the heating because it's pretty warm in here anyway) and then bill them for the difference at the end.

I really wish it could be easier than this, but anything for a relatively easy life. I guess we've just been unlucky. I think we're going to get Environmental Health in whilst we're doing this.
 
I've been on the phone to EH today and they said that the landlord is kind of right, though exaggerating. Window needs to be on trickle vent and heating needs to be comfortable, bit annoying but better than blazing heat and windows wide open! Contractors coming out tomorrow to clean the walls and carpet. If that doesn't work then I guess we'll have to see what they suggest!
 
we've had them round to clean the mould off the wall, but our radiator is now broken so we're waiting for that to be fixed. I'm just in the middle of getting some details of our BT visit so I can bill our landlord for that! It's an irritating situation, to say the least, but at least they seem to be doing something about it now!
 
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