black mould in council property

[jkz]

my council property has has black mould on outter walls for past seven years l have central heating on in winter most of the time but bedroom is still very cold that l have to have a fan heater on also l have decorated the room five times and still mould comes through all the council have done is put a very small fan in the wall which gives cold air flow all the time and tell me to sleep with window open and close when not in room and to keep closed when cooking. but this does not work l have used bleach on walls but still black mould my wardrobes were rotted with mould and dampness that l have now replaced all with new wardrobes and the edge of floor the carpets had mould which l have now replaced with laminted flooring this has cost myself a great deal of money but l am now worried it will continue to spread into new wardrobes. last year 90% of the year l had chest infections and very bad asmer having three courses of anti-biotics and have been told that as it has not cleared l will have to have chest X what is the best way to make the council look into this ongoing problem and sort it out once and for all

[Teleph0ne]

I have the same with my house and all they say is the same, open windows. Not ideal when it's minus 4 outside!!

[buildersmate]

The root cause of the problem is the amount of water vapour being produced in your house combined with poor insulation of the walls. There is really unique of special about your house in this regard.
The various solutions are ventilation (either by windows open and/or air extraction), which you are now doing, and finding ways to reduce the amount of water vapour getting into the air - showers, cooking using open pans, unvented tumble-dryers, drying clothes in the house. All of these things increase the amount of water vapour in the house.
Although you have put this in the Law section, I don't see that this is a fundamental defect in the house that you can expect the landlord to deal with. Have you got adequate roof insultation in the loft? - at least increasing that would increase the ambient temperature in the rooms in winter.

[proudmary]

Hi, you need to write to the council and ask for an assessment of your home using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), hand deliver the letter and get a receipt, the council are duty bound to carry out this assessment. If there are category 1 hazzards (such as damp and mould) then this must be looked into and if there is a problem with the building this must be rectified. I would suggest if you have no response within 14 days of your letter you go to Shelter and ask them to take up the case (let the council know you intend to do this when you write to them). I work for a Local Authority and see unfit properties everyday, some are damp and the damp is caused by the tenants, when there is a problem with the fabric of the building then I take landlords to Court if they do not bring the property up to a decent standard. Hope this helps xx

[Eve.]

Shelter provide some useful advice and assistance...

http://www.shelter.org.uk/

[Eve.]

More direct link re conditions in rented council houses...

http://england.shelte...irs_in_social_housing

[Nosha123]

aside from the fact that you shouldnt have to put up with this.. if you do have the money to spare - get yourself a dehumidifier.

I bought one for £89.99 from Homebase recently for a similar problem - the water vapour in the air is the issue.
It collects loads of water - and is very quiet
you will probably need to wash ALL the clothes in wardobe to ensure you have caught it.... Dont cross contaminate areas either or it can spread!
I found this link useful - though its in US
http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/ts/IAQ/GOT_Mold.html

Winter will be worse as its caused by warm air meeting the cold. Windows collecting condensation are a tell tale there is a problem with ventilation
Hope this helps