Here is a question to the blog clinic from Rhiannon who is a tenant
I am currently 5 months into a tenancy of an “upside down” house if you will, where the kitchen, bathroom and storage room are downstairs with bedrooms upstairs.
The downstairs rooms are underground. We noticed a few weeks into moving in the storage room was getting very damp and noticed damp on the walls getting dark.
We asked the landlord and his excuse was “someone’s moved a sheet on the path during building nothing I can do”. No offer of damp proof paint etc.
Since then (a few months) the kitchen cupboards have started to smell, putting smells on our plates and other items, the bathroom is becoming almost toxic after showers and the storage room has had to be almost emptied after I took a suitcase out and it was covered in stains and mould.
Our agency said as long as he’s done everything he can (which is realistically nothing but wait for someone somewhere to “move a sheet”) then we have no case. Yet I’ve lost over £50 worth of suitcases and also things I had stored in them. We also believe this damp killed our pet hamster as we kept his bedding in there at the start. Overall it’s quite stressful.
Are we wrong to think we have a case?
It depends. The law is a bit complex here and damp is a notoriously difficult issue.
If you are thinking of bringing a claim for compensation in the County Court under the landlords statutory repairing obligations (set out in s11 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985) then this will depend on whether the damp is caused by the landlord failing to carry out repairs which he is obliged to do under the act.
For example under the act the landlord is obliged to keep the structure and exterior of the property in repair. But has he failed to do this and if so, is this the cause of the damp?
I am not a surveyor but it sounds to me as if the damp could be connected to the fact that the rooms are underground. Unless this ‘sheet’ really is the problem. I have no idea what it could be. Do any readers know? And if it is the sheet – why can’t the landlord move it himself?
However, if the damp is due to the design of the property (e.g. the rooms being underground) rather than some repair issues which the landlord has failed to rectify, then this is not something you can claim for – not under s11 anyway.
You clearly have a problem though, and this will be a heath and safety issue. So I suggest that you arrange for the local authority Environmental Health Dept to do a Housing Health and Safety Rating Survey. They should come out and do this for you free of charge.
If they find any ‘category 1 hazards’ then they will serve an improvement notice on your landlord requiring him to rectify the situation. If he refuses, ultimately they will have the power to bring a prosecution in the Magistrates Court.
The is a solution but note that it will result (if no rectification work is done) in the landlord getting a criminal record, rather than an award for financial compensation being made in your favour (although sometimes small awards are made to victims).
It will also take quite a long time as Local Authority Environmental Health departments tend to be very busy. Long term, you may want to consider moving somewhere else.
Thanks to Sandra of QuaLETy Ltd for the picture
Hello Surveyor here. Sounds highly unlikely that simply “moving a sheet” would cause the damage – is the picture the site or a stock picture. Sounds much more likely to be some sort of penetrating dampness because its “underground”, perhaps combined with condensation. All damp like this needs careful analysis to determine the cause and solution. Steve
Hi Steven, many thanks for your comment. No the picture is just a general one I had knocking around, its not of the property.
If this was penetrating damp, could it have been caused by disrepair or is it more likely to be a ‘design of the property’ issue?
If it’s penetrating damp there is likely to be a design issue, I wouldn’t rule out condensation as part of the issue as the underground wall surfaces may well be colder, especially if they are damp too. We find that our condensation enquiries start to come in about the third week of October as temperature falls, so if there has been a deterioration in this case in the last couple of weeks that is an indicator. The stated 5 months would suggest occupancy in June – warm and dry [and possibly redecorated?] which would fit with worsening on occupation and over the following months. Steve
If it’s a design fault that brings in the Defective Premises Act doesn’t it?
Anyway my reason for posting is the hamster. That I assume means kids – that if you mention asthma will bring EHO running. Plus it is a very unusual case so that’ll interest them too.
I should threaten the LL with a HHSRS inspection and see what he does. If as I suspect he tries retaliatorty eviction get the EHO in anyway and tell him of the LL action.
Clear damp problem as opposed to the more usual condensation in my view.
But I too am no surveyor!!
Always a little difficult to comment on some posts in absence of full facts. A little concern of the downstairs being described as underground rather than a basement. If it is underground without any natural light it may not be suitable under HHSRS paricularly if there is not sufficient form of heating and or ventilation. If so the Council will possibly inspect within a couple of days of a report from the tenant.
Hello,
Given the limited facts I can only comment generally.
I assume your key aim is repairs. Given the problems described indicate mould growth as well as damp you can probably take action using the Environmental Protection Act. This is a quick and relatively cheap procedure to force repairs. You also get some compensation see:
http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2013/08/14/council-tenant-prosecutes-lambeth-council-over-damp-and-mouldy-flat/
On to the issues in the post, in my opinion penetrating damp is normally caused by something broken. People generally are quite careful to at least try and build properties so they don’t leak like sieves.
But, the cause of the damp is prehaps less of the issue- is it causing deteioration to the structure? If so that is a repair issue which the landlord will be obliged to fix.
Or will they? In this case it sounds like flats so if the landlord has got just one flat in the building, there repair responsibilities might be limited. As such fixing the structure might not be their responsibility. Instead that job would fall to the building owner.
Any serious penetrating damp is likely to destroy the plaster. A landlord is obliged to maintain the plaster as part of the structure so they will have to fix that.
The courts have said that it’s rediculous to just ‘paper over the cracks’ and that the root cause must be addressed. So here, instead of replastering every couple of months, the landlord would be requirred to fix the root cause AS PART of fixing the plaster.
Finally I wouldn’t trust this nebulous discussion of sheets. Whose sheets? What sheets? Certainly not mu bed sheets! Asking some more questions about this is worth while!
Good luck
Thanks for your comments Colin and Timothy.
Just so you know, Timothy is a solicitor specialising in damp and condensation issues in rented housing and brought the prosecutions reported here http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2013/08/14/council-tenant-prosecutes-lambeth-council-over-damp-and-mouldy-flat/
He will be speaking at the Landlord Law Conference next March http://www.easylawtraining.com/conference/