SaroxaiDamp and mould: whose responsibility is it?
Few things sour a tenancy faster than mould creeping across a bedroom wall, and few things get argued over more. The tenant says the flat is damp; the landlord says the tenant never opens a window. The honest answer is that responsibility follows the cause, and until you work out the cause you can't fairly point the finger. This guide walks through the three kinds of damp, what each side is expected to do, and why a good paper trail settles the whole thing.
What's in this guide
Three kinds of damp
Almost every case is one of three, and the type usually tells you who's responsible:
- Rising damp comes up from the ground where a damp-proof course is failing or missing. It's a building fault, so it sits with the landlord.
- Penetrating damp comes in from outside: a roof leak, cracked render, blocked gutters, a failed seal around a window. Again, that's disrepair for the landlord to fix.
- Condensation is moisture from everyday life, cooking, showering, drying clothes, meeting cold surfaces and turning to water, then mould. This is the grey area, because it can come from how the property is lived in, from how the property is built, or from both.
Rising and penetrating damp are relatively clear cut. Condensation is where the arguments live.
What the landlord is responsible for
A landlord has to keep the structure and outside of the property in repair, and to make sure the home is fit to live in. Serious, persistent damp and mould can make a property unfit, which pulls it firmly into the landlord's court. In practice that means fixing the causes you'd expect: leaks, failed damp-proofing, defective guttering, and rooms that simply can't be ventilated or heated to a reasonable standard. Newer rules are also shortening the time a landlord has to investigate and deal with damp and mould once a tenant reports it, so a slow response is itself becoming a risk.
What the tenant is responsible for
Tenants are expected to live in the property sensibly and to help keep condensation down. That usually means ventilating rooms, using extractor fans, heating the home to a reasonable level, not drying loads of washing on radiators in a sealed room, and keeping air vents clear. They also have to report problems promptly, because a landlord can only act on what they know about.
There's an important limit, though. A tenant can't be blamed for condensation that the building makes unavoidable. If a flat has no extractor fans, windows that don't open properly, or heating that can't warm it affordably, "just open a window" isn't a fair answer, and the responsibility shifts back to the landlord.
Why it's so often disputed
Here's the crux: condensation mould looks identical whether it was caused by a hidden building defect or by a tenant who never opened a window. You cannot tell them apart from a photo of the wall alone. What separates them is context, and context only exists if someone recorded it. Was there any sign of damp at the start? Were the extractor fans working at check-in? Did the tenant report a problem, and when? Was there mould at the last inspection? Without those notes, it's one person's word against another's. With them, the cause usually becomes obvious.
What to do when you find mould
- Work out the cause first. Look for leaks, failed seals and rising damp before assuming it's condensation.
- Treat the visible mould, but don't stop there. Cleaning it off without fixing the cause just delays its return.
- Fix the root, whether that's a repair, better ventilation, or advice on heating and airing rooms.
- Document everything, with dated photos before and after, so you have a record of both the problem and your response.
A record that answers "who caused it?"
Saroxai keeps your condition reports, inspection photos and history together in your own iCloud — so a damp dispute comes down to evidence, not opinion.