Mould infestation

Hi There,

I am currently renting a place that has developed a severe mold outbreak. i am just wondering what i should do.

I am going to inform the landlord today to try and get it sorted but the main problem is that the furniture belongs to me an my bedroom furniture reeks of mold now and my clothes also. I don't want to get into trouble with the landlord either, i dont think i should, as its not my fault but you never know with landlords. i only moved into the place a couple of months ago but its been getting worse. i am beginning to sneeze a lot and feel icky from being in the bedroom. i am thinking of moving out now as i don't want my furniture to be destroyed.

What should i do to sort this out?

any help appreciated.

Cheers,
Sully.

Re: Mold infestation

We had that problem in an apartment we rented in Clontarf. The landlord removed all the carpets and replaced them with lino. Clothes were destroyed with mould and we were constantly sneezing, sniffling and had headaches. We didn't realise how bad the problem was until we moved out. We moved out a month early and didn't have to pay the last months rent as "compensation".

We used mould removal spray and had a dehumidifier on a lot. We used to fill the bucket of the dehumidifier in a couple of hours.

The only solution is to get out as soon as possible. We've had to throw out a lot of our belongings from when we lived there because we just couldn't get rid of the stench. Even now when I get the slightest whiff of mould it turns my stomach.

Re: Mold infestation

Thanks for that Cahir,


is there anything else we can do, we have a lot of expensive furntiture, couch, bed and other units. Is the Landlord liable for damage to our stuff.

we were considering moving already. Jeez i have been getting a lot of headaches recently and now i know why. beginning to feel itchy as well. we moved into the place and it looked good as it had a new carpet in bedroom and lino in bathroom and was freshly painted. But now i think that was to cover up the dampness or previous mold outbreak.

I want to get out of the apartment but we have paid a large deposit and a month in advance. I doubt the landlord would allow us to get this back also will need to move our furniture.

Cheers,
Sully.

Re: Mold infestation

I tell you you'd want to avoid the mould, I had a similar problem in a room I was renting and it really affects your health I can tell you. Took me ages to feel right after it. Didnt notice headaches too much but my lungs were affected, their capacity seemed to decrease and I was really wheezy but didnt know why until I saw all the mould on the window frame beside my bed.

Its not up to scratch, landlord will probably avoid doing anything about it, try to get our deposit back and move out, tell him\her its affecting your health.

Hi Sully,

On the issue of your deposit etc. perhaps you could get some advice from the http://www.prtb.ie/

Would a lack of ventilation be part of the mould problem? If windows are constantly closed it certainly creates a condensation/mould problem. If you Google mould/dampness you will get a variety of informative articles.

You should also be able to get some advice from www.diydata.com and www.diynot.com also.

Hope this helps.

As soon as I wrote a strong email to the management company of the apartment block they came out and had a look. They said it would be fine when they removed the carpets but I refused to accept that and told them we were moving out early and wanted the deposit back. I then gave them a list of items which had been destroyed or damaged by mould and that's when they said we didn't have to pay the last months rent. They knew it was a health hazard so backed down extremely quickly.

You may have to get the furniture professionally cleaned to get rid of the smell or else try to sell it to someone who can't smell! Luckily we didn't have our own furniture but ended up throwing out duvets, pillows, bedsheets, clothes, bags, shoes, books, photographs (I was particularly upset about that) etc because no matter how many times we washed or cleaned them afterwards we still couldn't get rid of the smell. I moved some stuff back to my parents house and washed them but even then my old bedroom began to stink of mould so I threw almost everything out.

We used to use nuetradol in the apartment and even now the smell of that turns my stomach. I can only imagine how stinky we used to be in work as people who came to visit the apartment noticed the smell more than we did because we were semi used to it.