Hi there,
I'm not sure where to turn to at this stage and need some advice before attempting to seek advice via the Tenancy Tribunal. I apologise for the upcoming novel and plead for someone to please offer any form of input or advice possible.
I am a tenant in a property in Mairehau (on the cusp of Saint Albans) in Christchurch and moved in March this year.
Myself, two women and one of their partners are the tenants and we are all extraordinarily clean people - for example, we have a designated hand towel in the bathroom specifically to keep the benchtop tidy and free from toothpaste. We have window wipers to wipe the moisture from our windows in our bedrooms and one specifically for mirrors in the house.
I find it soothing to clean and enjoy living in a clean environment and mess gives me extreme anxiety.
Currently, I am having the toughest problem I have ever had in 5 years of tenancy - our house has developed a mould problem, but I am unable to pinpoint the cause of the problem.
The mould is primarily in my bedroom - which is the corner of the house that receives the least amount of sun and is lacking carpeting. The floorboards are unvarnished and feel quite... soft, almost? At the time, this was not an issue however we had a sudden onset of mould in the past couple of weeks - which have been extraordinarily rainy - that has occurred in three bottom corners of the floorboards.
The first mould we found in the built-in wardrobe starting from the bottom which has seeped into my dresser and completely destroyed my dresses and jackets that were hanging.
The second mould we found was in the corner adjoined to the same wall, where I had a free-standing wardrobe - not pressed against the wall and stands on its own legs, leaving plenty of ventilation. The mould ate straight up through the flooring and has ruined over 15 pairs of shoes (all which were covered in fur - after attempting to clean them with a bi-carb soak and dry them in front of the fireplace the mould came back immediately the next day) as well as a couple more jackets and belts. The wardrobe itself is a write-off as the mould has soaked through the wood.
The third mould we found was in the opposite corner, adjoined to the second mouldy corner. We are unable to figure out why mould is growing in this location as there was nothing in this corner to prevent ventilaton. The nearest item was a dresser 40CM away.
We discovered that the wall with mould in both corners has a chimney covered up by walling that was not properly sealed. There is a CM gap on the top of the chimney, however our landlady brought a builder over who confirmed the roof was not leaking, and thus not the cause of the mould. We also brought a builder friend over who also confirmed the same thing.
Now, our landlady insists that the mould is caused by condensation - however, my familiarity with condensation mould is that it starts in the top corners of a room and generally in wet rooms. Our kitchen - which generates a lot of steam as our extractor fan is broken and our landlady has not repaired it since we moved in - and our bathroom are not mouldy. If it were condensation based, assuming that we are not properly ventilating the property, wouldn't the bathroom be the first place to get mould?
As for ventilating the property, here are the measures we take on a regular, daily basis:
- Open all curtains in the daylight, close curtains in the night
- Use wipers to wipe condensation off of windows and a towel to soak up the moisture - which goes straight to the laundry room across the house
- Open windows in the daytime, close at night if too cold
- Open windows when cooking, as extractor fan broken
- Use extractor fan in bathroom when showering as well as open window. After showering, keep door closed to avoid moisture seeping to rest of house
Our landlady's suggestion to us is that we need to open curtains, wipe down windows, open windows, not to turn heatpump on and off (note: we don't turn the heatpump on, we use the lounge fireplace for warmth) and to use a dehumidifier.
At this we protested that we shouldn't have to literally throw our money out the window by using a dehumidifier, heatpump AND open windows all together and she looked us straight in the eye and said "it's an old home and that's life".
We don't know what to do.
I am extremely sick from the mould; I have rashes, my eyes sting, my breathing has turned into wheezing, my nose is forever blocked and runny and I'm so fatigued.
We have tried our hardest to fight the mould, but the best we've managed is to keep the mould from developing further. We scrub the mould with a bi-carb mixture and with bleach where applicable and have nearly cleared our room of everything to provide as much ventilation as possible. We have Damprid in all of the trouble spots and we tried the dehumidifier in the garage but found it is also mouldy!
Our landlady is not being helpful and we are trying to figure out what we can do to prove to her that we are not the cause and that she needs to help us, something she seems incredibly unwilling to do, we suspect because we know she is planning to renovate the property in about a year's time.
We are considering turning to the Tribunal but at this stage we don't know if we even have a case to stand on. All I know is I'm desperate and tired of being sick.
I'm not sure where to turn to at this stage and need some advice before attempting to seek advice via the Tenancy Tribunal. I apologise for the upcoming novel and plead for someone to please offer any form of input or advice possible.
I am a tenant in a property in Mairehau (on the cusp of Saint Albans) in Christchurch and moved in March this year.
Myself, two women and one of their partners are the tenants and we are all extraordinarily clean people - for example, we have a designated hand towel in the bathroom specifically to keep the benchtop tidy and free from toothpaste. We have window wipers to wipe the moisture from our windows in our bedrooms and one specifically for mirrors in the house.
I find it soothing to clean and enjoy living in a clean environment and mess gives me extreme anxiety.
Currently, I am having the toughest problem I have ever had in 5 years of tenancy - our house has developed a mould problem, but I am unable to pinpoint the cause of the problem.
The mould is primarily in my bedroom - which is the corner of the house that receives the least amount of sun and is lacking carpeting. The floorboards are unvarnished and feel quite... soft, almost? At the time, this was not an issue however we had a sudden onset of mould in the past couple of weeks - which have been extraordinarily rainy - that has occurred in three bottom corners of the floorboards.
The first mould we found in the built-in wardrobe starting from the bottom which has seeped into my dresser and completely destroyed my dresses and jackets that were hanging.
The second mould we found was in the corner adjoined to the same wall, where I had a free-standing wardrobe - not pressed against the wall and stands on its own legs, leaving plenty of ventilation. The mould ate straight up through the flooring and has ruined over 15 pairs of shoes (all which were covered in fur - after attempting to clean them with a bi-carb soak and dry them in front of the fireplace the mould came back immediately the next day) as well as a couple more jackets and belts. The wardrobe itself is a write-off as the mould has soaked through the wood.
The third mould we found was in the opposite corner, adjoined to the second mouldy corner. We are unable to figure out why mould is growing in this location as there was nothing in this corner to prevent ventilaton. The nearest item was a dresser 40CM away.
We discovered that the wall with mould in both corners has a chimney covered up by walling that was not properly sealed. There is a CM gap on the top of the chimney, however our landlady brought a builder over who confirmed the roof was not leaking, and thus not the cause of the mould. We also brought a builder friend over who also confirmed the same thing.
Now, our landlady insists that the mould is caused by condensation - however, my familiarity with condensation mould is that it starts in the top corners of a room and generally in wet rooms. Our kitchen - which generates a lot of steam as our extractor fan is broken and our landlady has not repaired it since we moved in - and our bathroom are not mouldy. If it were condensation based, assuming that we are not properly ventilating the property, wouldn't the bathroom be the first place to get mould?
As for ventilating the property, here are the measures we take on a regular, daily basis:
- Open all curtains in the daylight, close curtains in the night
- Use wipers to wipe condensation off of windows and a towel to soak up the moisture - which goes straight to the laundry room across the house
- Open windows in the daytime, close at night if too cold
- Open windows when cooking, as extractor fan broken
- Use extractor fan in bathroom when showering as well as open window. After showering, keep door closed to avoid moisture seeping to rest of house
Our landlady's suggestion to us is that we need to open curtains, wipe down windows, open windows, not to turn heatpump on and off (note: we don't turn the heatpump on, we use the lounge fireplace for warmth) and to use a dehumidifier.
At this we protested that we shouldn't have to literally throw our money out the window by using a dehumidifier, heatpump AND open windows all together and she looked us straight in the eye and said "it's an old home and that's life".
We don't know what to do.
I am extremely sick from the mould; I have rashes, my eyes sting, my breathing has turned into wheezing, my nose is forever blocked and runny and I'm so fatigued.
We have tried our hardest to fight the mould, but the best we've managed is to keep the mould from developing further. We scrub the mould with a bi-carb mixture and with bleach where applicable and have nearly cleared our room of everything to provide as much ventilation as possible. We have Damprid in all of the trouble spots and we tried the dehumidifier in the garage but found it is also mouldy!
Our landlady is not being helpful and we are trying to figure out what we can do to prove to her that we are not the cause and that she needs to help us, something she seems incredibly unwilling to do, we suspect because we know she is planning to renovate the property in about a year's time.
We are considering turning to the Tribunal but at this stage we don't know if we even have a case to stand on. All I know is I'm desperate and tired of being sick.
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