I read an article in the Daily Mail about how a woman stopped using her tumble drier to save money and instead dried clothes on a rack beside a radiator, with a sheet over the radiator and clothes making an enclosed warm air space.
The numerous comments were mostly about the danger of creating mould. The suggested solutions to the risk of creating mould were either open windows or use a dehumidifier.
Two comments were particularly telling. One said that the landlord would not refund the deposit if the tenant created mould!
I have had tenants trying to remove money from me because of mould. I checked the property and found various causes. Outside walls.
Mould from Outside Walls
Mould was only on an outside wall. We looked the other side of the wall. We found leaking pipes. We asked management to fix pipes.
Soil outside came above the damp course. I asked the management/gardeners to fix it by digging away soil level.
Mould Beside Bed Pushed Against A Wall
I asked a tenant to move bedding and bed away from wall. Even if you ask the husband who signs the contract, he might forget to tell the wife who moves in later. And they might forget to tell visitors.
If it is the landlord's bed, add a piece of wood which keeps the bed head or bed legs away from the wall.
You have to advise the tenant not to allow the duvet to touch the wall. If you have a 3 monthly inspection, have a jolly chat about humidity and preventing mould.
Mould - Obvious Causes
Mould grows when water pooled, undisturbed. Around the bath, the washbasin. In between the floor tiles. It starts pink and then turns black. As quickly as a few hours in Singapore. Over a few days or weeks in England.
We had mould on a wall behind a bookcase on a lounge's outside wall. The main patio door was shut all winter. The windows were fixed portholes with no ventilation.
Window Ventilation
We discovered that one flat in our block (my late parents' flat, no 16,} had vents above the patio doors. You had to adjust the lever to keep them open, not knock them shut with the curtains.
The neighbouring flat, no 15, looked identical but the patio door had no vents. When replacing the door or frame, we looked for ventilation vents.
Holding Tenants Responsible For Mould
It never occurred to me that financial compensation, remedy costs, or penalty matters could be the other way around, the tenant being blamed for creating mould. Especially as the tenants had asked if they could hang washing on their back patio which is on the block's public gardens. We said no. Neighbours would complain.
Hanging out washing is okay in public flats in Singapore, where poles are provided for that. But not in blocks which have back and front balconies where the front balconies overlooking gardens and swimming pool are kept clear and you hang clothes on the back balconies in the scullery / workroom.
Hanging out washing for all to see was okay on balconies in Italy and India, before the advent of drying machines. And in poorer parts of London.
Not in the UK, in expensive and elegant flats, in a retirement block where people are retired and sitting in the gardens enjoying the view of flowers. Residents don't want to be looking at other people's washing, and waving and flapping underwear.
So, the contract, or added notes, tell the tenants to dry their washing inside. The landlord provides a washer-drier. How many are using it? Instead of one widow or a retired couple you get a family of two parents, their brother or sister or visiting parents, the cousin home from university, a baby, and two more children. All wearing out the washing machine which instead of running once a week is run every day, or twice a day, with four beds and a cot.
The wear and tear on the washing machine also means more moisture from baths and showers, breathing, running the washing machine, cooking a casserole of even boiling a kettle with the windows shut. People from hot countries keep the windows shut in order to have the same warm temperature they had all their lives in hot countries.
Another help and guidance would be a conspicuous temperature guide. And a humidity measure.
Looking at matters logically, the tenant is creating moisture, and must eliminate it by opening windows or using a dehumidifier.
When the wooden window frames needed replacing, we looked at whether the new frames had ventilation positions, which did not expose the property to the risk of burglary.
Extra Animals Creating Mould
Each animal also breathes our air, might urinate indoors, need washing, comes in wet from rain and shakes itself, attracts other animals. Male animals my urinate deliberately to mark their territory with their male smell and scare off other rival males.
We had a tenant who asked permission to have one cat. A month or two later they had two cats. And two kittens.
I wish I had thought to ask if they would have the cat sterilised. And take out pet insurance. And if they had to leave the property, eg to go back home overseas, would they find the animal a new home. The animal might keep coming back, annoying new tenants.
Neighbours might be inconvenienced.
The cats might damage communal property.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold
Updated Nov 2022.
No comments:
Post a Comment