Thursday, 22 January 2015

City Lettings (Nottingham)..more like letting us down by Verna Poppy and Katy Gilbert

After not having a working boiler for four months when moving into our uncleaned property with City Letting letting agency, we are now dealing with ongoing damp problems and a mould infestation. 

Here is our message to them:

Photographic evidence of mould infestation in every room of the flat including damage to stuff and hole in bathroom ceiling and woodchip falling away from damp walls:



























































I spoke to Georgina on the phone two days ago about the ongoing mould and damp problems we are having in our home. As the issue is not improving and is of serious concern, after not hearing a reply from you, we have decided to attach pictures to my blog site so we can send you the link for you to appreciate the extent of the infestation yourself. 

We have been researching further into the problem and we are worried for our health.

"If you have damp and mould you are more likely to have respiratory problems, respiratory infections, allergies or asthma. Damp and mould can also affect the immune system." (NHS) 

We have both had reoccurring chest tightness and have been coughing up mucus for several months. We now realise after reading the information from the NHS website our poor health more than likely if not definitely a direct result from the mould.

We are also concerned there has been little to no effort on City Lettings part to look into the problem, we had to be the ones to suggest a dehumidifier. After receiving the dehumidifier we saw the humidity level in the air was 79% and as you can see from the quote below a dehumidifier is not going to be enough to solve the problem.  

"Assuming that the relative humidity in your home is indeed of the order of 70 per cent, then while a dehumidifier will help, it will not solve the real problem. You need to find out where all this moisture is coming from, and put a stop to it." (Telegraph)

We have been following the suggestions of how to lower our "moisture produced by human activity", we did most of the things before anyway and have for the past month been strictly opening the windows every morning, keeping the bathroom door shut, not drying clothes inside etc. Therefore we feel the property's ventilation needs to be investigated and a cooker hood and extractor fan should be installed in the kitchen immediately. 

"Kitchens should have a cooker hood – vented to the outside, rather than recirculating the air through a carbon filter – and should be switched on whenever the oven or hob is in use. Moisture generated by cooking is not just the steam rising off a pan of boiling potatoes, but also a by-product of the combustion of gas. Bedrooms also need ventilation, as the body can give off half a litre of moisture overnight through respiration and perspiration." (Telegraph)

We are extremely unhappy, on top of living in these awful and depressing conditions we are having to pay the extra electricity to heat our water through electric on a timer as "we need a whole new boiler really" as the plumber Tony said. As well as paying for a dehumidifier that is only helping slightly but not actually fixing the problem. Not to mention all our possessions still being destroyed by the mould infestation too, now clothes are being infected too as well as the furniture, shoes, bags, pillows, duvets and suitcases mentioned in our previous email.

We want to know what the landlord is going to do about this ASAP and really think we deserve compensation.  

References


Yours Sincerely

Verna Blake-Smalley and Katy Gilbert
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