Landlord in Notts
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I have a newish property circa 12 years old mid town house 2 storey. The upstairs bathroom comprises of a WC hand wash basin and bath with shower over. The bathroom is internal to the house so there are no open-able windows, of course there is an extractor fan in the bathroom as per regulations to extract the moisture generated by bathing and showers. I had a call from the tenants approx. 9 months ago, whom have been there for nearly 3 years asking me to redecorate the bathroom as the paint was mouldy in places. I called via appointment and discovered the extractor fan fitted to the ceiling grill was blocked with fluff so the fan was not extracting properly. I hovered and cleaned the extractor fan and explained the mould was caused by the moist air nor being extracted and so condensation was forming on the walls and ceiling as the moist damp air could not escape. I advised the tenant to use an anti mould cleanser which are readily available to remove the mould spots and requested that they keep the extractor grill clean, the fan was left working perfectly. The bathroom clearly needed to dry out before any decoration work could commence. However, No decoration work was arranged by myself or the tenant due to the lockdown and reluctance for tenants to have non emergency workers in their home. The mould was not serious at this stage. No more was heard from the tenant so I presumed that they had acted accordingly. Another visit to the house 6 months ago with a plumber was arranged to assess work to be done. It was discovered by both the plumber and myself during that visit the tenants had actually turned off the extract fan in the bathroom (there is a high level isolation switch outside the bathroom for maintenance) When I questioned the tenant whom was there, she said the fan made a noise when the light was turned on when they went to use the WC in the night. The fan was tested by the plumber and no unusual or excessive noise was generated. I advised the tenant to report the extractor noise to me if it became loud but advised them again that they had to leave the extractor fan power supply on as the decorative damage caused by condensation to the bathroom walls was getting worse. She agreed. Now this Tuesday the plumbing work was booked in I attended with the same plumber and the bathroom extractor fan was again found to be completely turned off, the decorative damage to the walls was worse still. Because of the tenants unreasonable behaviour the bathroom does now definitely want redecorating. I am also arranging to re-position the isolation power switch into the loft area out of the tenants reach. The redecorating work and the moving of the isolation switch will obviously have a cost. After advising the tenants on no less than 2 previous occasions not to turn off the power to the extractor fan as this, and the failure to clean the fans intake grill is the cause of the damage, and they have purposely done the opposite by turning off the fan when I have left the property. Under the circumstances it is my intention is to bill the tenants for reasonable costs incurred in moving the switch and redecorating the bathroom. Am I entitled to do this. the tenancy they entered into is a NLA tenancy from 2017 so I feel justified in doing so. Please Advise. Yours Faithfully Neil Iliffe
