Q&A - Damp / Mould 

The Managing Agent emailed us on 11 Dec 2013 to say the external work was completed. When we checked, we saw a tiny fraction of the wall was patched up, and only on one side.

In January 2014, the Managing Agent called in a surveyor who did a detailed survey and sent a report in the same month. A notice of intent was sent to all directors in April 2014. Work specifications were sent to all directors in June 2014.

After each step, there is complete silence for weeks, even months. We need to constantly ring up and email and explain things from scratch to get things moved to the next stage. We would be extremely grateful for advice as to how this whole thing can be sped up.

ANSWER

I am sorry to hear of your current difficulties, and in particular sorry to hear of your wife’s current state of health.

I have not, of course, had sight of your lease. The lease governs the relationship between you, your management company (if there is a management company enshrined under the lease), and your landlord. The lease, amongst other things, sets out the obligations that each party has to the other. The lease should, therefore, set out who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the fabric of the building, including the exterior walls that you refer to in your enquiry. I assume, for the purposes of this response that your landlord is responsible for the repair, maintenance and renewal of the fabric of the Building, including the exterior walls, and that you, as leaseholders, are required to contribute to such works by means of payment of a service charge.

It seems from the chronology you’ve set out that your landlord has accepted their obligation to repair the ingress. Where a landlord intends to carry out major works to a property, and those works are going to cost a leaseholder more than £250, in order for the landlord to recover the contributions from the lessees towards the works they are required to carry out statutory consultation, or alternatively to obtain dispensation from consultation. Dispensation is granted by the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). Whilst I can see from your email that a specification of works has been prepared, it is not clear whether any consultation process has been commenced, or indeed whether consultation is necessary. This may well be an issue that needs to be addressed. The most pressing concern is, of course, the fact that over a year later the works have not been undertaken and the ingress is, therefore, continuing. 

There are a number of options open to you in order to address this. It is very difficult for me to suggest the most appropriate option in your circumstances given the limited information I have. From the situation you’ve described, your landlord seems to be in breach of the terms of the lease.  As such, you are able to bring proceedings in the County Court in which you can ask the Court to order your landlord to perform their obligations under the lease. 

In addition, you can ask the Court to award damages to compensate for any economic losses you have suffered, together with noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering and emotional distress. Before bringing these kind of proceedings before the County Court, I would recommend that you seek legal advice. 

As an alternative, you may consider reporting the matter to your local authority who may be able to force your landlord to carry out the necessary repair works. There are various guides available online (the Citizens’ Advice Bureau have, in particular, produced an advice guide) which may assist. Your local authority may carry out an assessment, and if they consider that there’s a hazard which is a risk to your health and safety (which includes damp and mould growth) they have powers to deal with the hazard. For example, if the local authority serve an improvement Notice on your landlord, and your landlord does not carry out the work, the local authority may carry out the work itself and recover their costs directly from your landlord. 

You seem to have experienced difficulties with the managing agent. As from 1st October 2014 all managing agents are required to belong to one of the three approved redress schemes. The purpose of these schemes is to deal with complaints about agents. Each scheme has its own particular rules that agents must comply with. If a complaint is found proven, then the schemes have a number of options ranging from requiring the agent to apologise, to ordering compensation, to expelling the agent from that scheme.

I hope that helps with your query. As indicated, you may well consider it appropriate to seek legal advice if you are minded to pursue any formal action.

Cassandra Zanelli, Partner, Taylor Emmett