Guide to Preventing Damp and Mould Building up in Your Rental Property
With the cost of living crisis having a huge impact on households across the UK, heating and ventilating your homes effectively could be low on your to do list, but not doing so could cause more costly issues further down the line.
As such we have put together some tips to help us work together on keeping your property in order, even in the winter months.
All properties need to be ventilated and heated correctly to prevent damp building up, particularly in older properties. Ventilating and controlling moisture in everyday activities like cooking, washing and drying clothes is imperative as they can all cause condensation, damp and even mould to develop in your home. These can damage not only your personal belongings but the property itself.
Heating your property is also key to keeping damp at bay, try not to let the ambient temperature of your home drop below 15 degrees, keeping your thermostat set to this level will ensure the heating kicks in if the temperature should drop.
What else can we do to prevent damp in our homes?
There are several small steps you can take to help, see some examples below:
Cover pans when cooking
Use extractor fans where available, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms.
Close internal doors when washing or cooking, otherwise ensure internal doors are kept open to promote air flow throughout your property.
Don’t push your furniture right up to the walls, allow a small gap for ventilation, particularly for soft furnishings.
Dry clothes outside or use a vented tumble dryer.
Open windows for 5-10 minutes per day, particularly in bedrooms when you first get up.
If moisture is evident (on windows or walls for example) this must be dried/wiped regularly
If you have no option but to dry laundry indoors, it may be worth investing in a de-humidifier to remove the moisture in the air.
Keep trickle vents in windows open to help ventilate and promote air flow.
Mould should be cleaned frequently to prevent it spreading, you can use a mould killer spray or a watered-down bleach solution to help kill the bacteria.
Investigating the causes of damp and mould.
If you are following the above tips and still have issues arising, further investigation may be required as to the cause of the damp. In this instance a damp report can be carried out by a damp expert who will be able to advise if the issue lies with the property and what can be done to improve this, they will also be able to advise if the issues are more lifestyle related and what steps can be taken to help.
I rent my property, who should I contact if I have issues with damp?
If you’re following the tips above and still experiencing issues, you should contact your landlord or managing agent as soon as possible. Photo’s can be very helpful in identifying issues and it’s always good to monitor the issue documenting any changes and whether these correlate to the weather conditions (ie, is it worse when it rains?).