A blog clinic question from Alison (not her real name), who asks
I’d appreciate opinions on whether the landlord or tenant would typically be held responsible for condensation damage or mould, in the case of a basement flat where there is insufficient ventilation available.
In the flat I am thinking of, there are no windows in the hall, bedroom or bathroom. Only the living room and kitchenette have windows, and they are located on one wall only, away from the cause of the moisture (ie clothes being dried on rads).
Would the landlord be justified in holding the tenant responsible for condensation damage to decoration that is inevitable in this situation? The tenants think that their landlord will withhold their deposit because of this.
One problem with the statutory repairing covenants (which are those which make landlords liable for certain repairs) is that they do not cover design faults, just ‘disrepair’. So if the design of the flat is the reason for the problem then it is not something which the landlord is duty bound to rectify. Under the repairing covenants anyway.
However it does not mean that he is safe from all challenge (as I say in this post here). I am not a surveyor or expert on building condition and regulations but it sounds a bit dodgy to me to have a flat with so few windows.
I think it would be worth getting an inspection done (assuming you are speaking on behalf of the tenants) by your Local Authority Environmental Health Dept under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. If they consider that it is a category 1 hazard they will serve an improvement notice on the landlord.
It also sounds like a bit of a fire risk. What does anyone else think?
In another case we saw there was a bedroom with no window and the LA put a prohibition notice on the room preventing its use as a bedroom. Technically bedrooms no’t have to have windows but they do have to have ventilation and means of escape in the event of fire. Sounds like this one may be missing both and is possibly a conversion without building control permission.
The problem appears to be partly a tenant created one ie drying clothes on radiator presumably without having the windows etc open. Standard tenanacy agreements usually state a tenant should not dry washing inside the house except in a ventelated room
Condensation is created just from breathing and without adequate ventilation in most rooms of the flat (no extractor in the bathroom?) that there would still be a problem even without drying clothes indoors.
Re other sources of advice re safety- the local fire and rescue service can visit to give a free home fire safety check.
http://www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/hfsc