Social housing landlords warned to improve mould conditions

Not sticking up for social housing providers at all but I wonder how much of this problem is caused by tenant lifestyle not actually the building itself.
I say that because I have just had a change of tenant in one of my properties where there has never been a problem with mould previously and in under two months of the new tenants moving in there was a big problem, heavy staining with mould in the corners of the rooms, around windows and behind furniture.
It evolved incredibly quickly.and of course I'm working to mitigate it but . .

Reply to the comment left by Anne Nixon at 02/02/2023 - 12:53
If you dry washing in rooms with open windows, run tumble driers in rooms with no ventilation, or just turn the heating off and close the windows then you will get mould forming. And you'll get that even in an insulated property. And some properties have cold spots even if they are in a reasonable state of repair. That tends to be where the mould forms when the heating is turned off. If you shower, or bathe in a bathroom and don't open the window to ventilate mould will form and form quite quickly.

So yes, mould is often a consequence of tenant behaviour.

Why is it always the default response of landlords to blame the tenant for these problems or to trot out their own anecdotes along these lines? This is just the sort of attitude that pervades the rental industry and has given rise to the failure to address the issues.

What should be manifestly obvious from the recent cases and the government response is that no landlord can afford to ignore a report of mould and must carry out investigations to establish and deal with the cause without delay.

It would not surprise me if the decent homes standard is extended to include a requirement to provide adequate facilities for drying clothes, rather than leaving tenants to use radiators for that purpose as in many cases they have no reasonable alternative.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 02/02/2023 - 16:46
The last time I had a big problem with mould it was because I had rented the property to a tenant who needed a short-term let because their own property had been flooded. When the let ended I got back to the property and found that they had left some time before and turned the power off because they did not want to pay the heating bill. I found fermenting food in the deep freeze in the property and mould in many of the rooms. I had to treat the mould and overpaint. But that's not because the property had a problem.

The problem was that it was an insurance job. So they didn't care about the property; as far as they were concerned the insurance company was paying anyway. They did care about the heating bill because they were paying that; and so they just turned the heating off.

I believe it is standard in an AST to require the tenant to adequately heat a property. And if they don't do it that is not the landlord's fault.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 02/02/2023 - 16:46
"the default response of landlords to blame the tenant for these problems"
Because it WAS the tenant to blame, it's as simple as that.
Someone's experience cannot be negated just because it's an inconvenient truth.
The conditions in which mould grows can easily be avoided, but it's down to educating people about it. If they don't know then they can't avoid it. . . .right?
The moisture emating from towels being dried on the radiator has not just disappeared, it is still there in the air and it will find the coolest place to settle, usually an exterior wall. Once that information has been shared and understood then it all falls into place.
What do you suggest then, keep schtum about the causes of condensation mould in case someone is offended? Sheesh....

Reply to the comment left by Anne Nixon at 02/02/2023 - 17:07
That's correct. In fact, in my own home I recently had an issue because one of the windows failed in one of my ensuite's such that I had to leave it locked closed whilst I found someone to fix it. The mould had formed within a week even though there's a ventilator fan in the room, which we did run. If a tenant chooses to keep the window closed and not run the fan but still have baths/showers then mould will form; and that's not the landlord's fault.

So whilst it's certainly true that sometimes there can be problems with a property that ought to be sorted out, it cannot be an automatic assumption that presence of mould is down to the landlord.

I see that I have rattled a couple of cages, which is what I expected. By all means blame the tenant but if you have not taken adequate steps to educate them and remove any underlying cause of the problem don't expect a soft ride from the local authority if they carry out an inspection.

The view of the government and the housing ombudsman is that the tenant should not be blamed for mould, which they see as the automatic response from landlords and will no longer tolerate.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 02/02/2023 - 22:29
I think the point is not blame the tenant or blame the landlord; the presence of mould is something that needs investigation. And perhaps that's an opportunity to educate tenants.

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 03/02/2023 - 09:07
Absolutely, that's the point I was trying to make. The trouble is that because many landlords have in the past immediately blamed the tenant when mould is reported, we are now faced with the authorities presuming the opposite i.e. that fault lies with the landlord.

In both cases it is what lawyers would call a rebuttable presumption, but we will now have to prove that the tenant's lifestyle is the cause and that there is nothing wrong with the property that has caused or contributed to the problem.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 03/02/2023 - 10:04
Agreed: So you need good records of maintenance.