Mould- who pays tenant or landlord

Hi

question regarding mould & heaps of condensation on windows in ensuite.
New 18 month old townhouse.
As trial & error is practised to ascertain why this is happening/ may have to call in the mould dr…
Is this an expense that should rest with the tenant or the landlord….
Cheers

 

Depends on the cause of the mould.

If there is a maintenance issue contributing such as a water leak or rising damp, the Lessor pays to fix.

If the Tenant has failed to adequately ventilate the property allowing high humidity levels to occur, and not undertaken regular cleaning with respect to the standard they received the property in, such as cleaning air conditioner filters, and they have caused the mould, then they should pay.

Nb. in Qld legislation (for example), the Lessor has an overarching obligation to ensure the premise is fit and safe to live in etc, in that regard, even if the Tenant is the cause of the damage/mould, the Lessor should keep in mind to not be in breach of the legislation themselves they may actually have to remedy the problem to remove the risk and then seek compensation from the Tenant if it does not look like the Tenant will be fix it in a timely manner, who can then try and claim compensation for resultant damage such as to their personal effects and health which might cause them to have to move etc. Practical example is if the Tenant breaks some glass, notifies the Lessor, Lessor doesn't arrange to have it repaired saying the Tenant must pay to fix it, Tenant injures themselves on the broken glass, Lessor is probably going to be in some trouble...

 

If it's in the ensuite It's probably poor design of the ventilation system. I'd suggest you install a timed ventilation and ensure there is air intake.

You can blame the tenants for not leaving the windows open, not cleaning the AC (as if it was realated to the ensuite...) etc. but odds are the next tenant will have the same problem/

 

I disagree. I've seen tenants refuse to use the extractor in bathrooms, so that sometimes adequate ventilation IS provided, but the tenant doesn't use it.

If the property is only 18 months old, presumably adequate ventilation was supplied. You need to find the cause of this before you know who's at fault.

 

I live in an apartment in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs - great breeze and lots of Sunlight.
We leave our bedroom windows open all the time, but two years after living here our bedroom and bathroom got so much mould in a three month period it was insane. We started off by wiping it off and cleaning it ourselves. It also attracted these interesting insects with it, that looked like really tiny bed bugs - all over the ceiling.

We brought it a company called Mould Removal Australia - and for $900 they disinfected the place. This was in December 2020 (Landlords paid for it) ; and I have not seen a speck of mould since then.

 

In NSW, I see lots of poorly ventilated townhouses and apartments. Regardless of keeping windows open you face same issues. Friend of my bought an apartment in the hills area. His apartment doesn't get any sunlight in winter, not even for 10 min. His bathrooms and laundry don't have natural ventilation (windows). You cant expect a working-class tenants to go to work and leave their sliding doors and windows open while they are not at home. Very poorly design townhouses and apartments.

 

I don't disagree, with some properties it is very difficult. I used to live in Telopia and Carlingford in NSW, got very cold, very dark and gloomy etc. I remember our family had dehumidifiers running and my parents would empty litres and litres of water pulled out the air. There were no water leaks or outstanding maintenance issues. It's just part n parcel of living in some areas and properties - it is part of what's required to maintain them. The two factors a Tenant can be vetted on are ability to pay the rent and ability to maintain the property. If they're not prepared, able or willing to take measures like this, then they are not going to meet their obligations under the agreement. If they owned the property and there was no Lessor/Agent to whinge and complain to, what would they do? They would take appropriate measures or simply not live there. Everyone seems to forget you're renting "what is", not "what it should be". The Acts provide for minimum standards for respective states none of which say if it's poorly designed should be demolished and built differently. Environmental factors like hot/cold/windy/sun/no sun/humid don't discriminate between rented or owner-occupied premises, it's only Tenants you hear complaints from though...

 

But the landlord should ensure there is a working and efficient extractor fan and that there is proper venting extraction in the kitchen too.

Some people don’t know that for an extraction fan to work properly, you need a source of outside air - so a grille or gap in the door, or the window open a bit.

In the effort to make new houses really airtight, some other problems have arisen in recent years - including condensation and mould.

I feel that if a house has a tendency to mould, that tenants should be informed what to do before signing a lease. If they need to run a dehumidifier for 8 or so hours a day just to keep the place livable, then they should be warned in advance.

 

I have one property with poor ventilation due to patio outside it. It’s my property that I don’t want mouldy so I pay for clean and advise tenants there is poor ventilation so they will need to keep window a bit open even in winter. I usually pre-warn but there was one instance where a tenant didn’t believe in cleaning with anything but Orange oil and it got really bad. We also paint it with paint that deters mould. Only the one issue in 20 years.

 

Our PPOR has a large double hung window in the bathroom and a powerful exhaust fan that is vented to the outside. The window is permanently open at the top, and I fully open it at the bottom after showers, and leave the exhaust fan turned on for about half an hour.

There are no leaks in the roof etc, and the ceiling is new, and was painted in mould resistant paint specifically designed for wet areas.

The ceiling still gets mouldy in winter.

 

I've lived in plenty of poorly designed places (no extraction etc) including a period of time living in NZ.

I see they have now introduced some landlord responsibilities in recognizing that technology has evolved to the point that cold and mould should not be accepted as the norm through a healthy homes standard.
Tenancy Services - About the healthy homes standards

Maybe something similar is needed here?

 

It's slowly filtering through

 

Same except it's on the tiles in the shower, nothing wrong with the shower or bathroom, has a window etc, just the way it is. I clean it and get on with life.

 

If the issue is tenants not using the extractor that is supplied, you can wire it so that it comes on automatically when the light goes on. I personally don't like this, but it worked in one of ours that seemed to always have issues.

 

Given how bad the BCA is on ventilation, there are always costly issues until you address it properly. Fans should have the proper capacity (BCA says 25L/s, proper standard is 10-15 air changes/min for on-demand ventilation), you need to have an external air intake, and fans should be wired to an hygrostat or light + timer.

We have very poor standards, continuous flow ventilation has been mandatory in European building codes for ages

 

I will take a punt that the ensuite has windows that are shut possibly latched or locked. Many people also close off the doors on top so the walls are like a wet sponge. It breeds fungal growth. That is a tenant issue. You need to trade off cold & well ventilated v's damp. The moisture on the walls and ceiling from a long hot shower has to go somewhere. It doesnt just dry itself.

 

Choice put out some good material on this subject
Black mould and renters' rights | CHOICE

Basically mould spores require moisture to grow so removing the moisture, damp or water leak source is paramount. We actually installed two exhaust fans in our bathroom due to it's large size, and that really made a difference. Also wiping down the shower walls/tiles after every shower helps.

Does the bathroom window have screens at all?

 

Personally if I ever find myself owning a new unit/townhouse I'd be paying the $80 for a Hager run-on timer, wiring it from the lights so once you hit the lights, the fan runs for 20 minutes.

 

My preference if money (or in my case time) is to have a switch mech sized sensor wired to led strip under vanity, then fan on run-on momentary bell press, then downlights on switches separately. I dislike tastics and in Qld a bit of a waste of cutting holes in ceilings and ruining the sealed envelope on builds. I gave once installed a heatstrip heater and that worked well, be it $600.