Damp: who's responsible?

Hi, I moved into a flat recently with my friend and his girlfriend. It is a small flat below ground level and is therefore prone to a lot of damp, so much so it is destroying my friend's clothes. In order to prevent the damp we have to keep dehumidifers running pretty much 24/7, which is costing us a lot in electricity.

My question is: should we really have to burden the cost to prevent potentially dangerous mold from developing through damp at a cost to ourselves? Or should the landlord pay some of our eletricity bill so we can run the dehumidifiers?

Thanks

Dear Sir or Madam

The tenant would be responsible. When you rent a property you are renting it as it is. Any apparent flaws, i.e. damp patches, are expressly accepted by you on letting the property and the landlord cannot be held liable for them. In other words, you rent it as it stands with apparent flaws and all.

Properties below ground level or facing north are always prone to attract dampness in my experience specially in developments with lush gardens that need to be watered regularly. Which is yet another reason why tenants and would-be-buyers choose, if possible, south facing properties flooded with sunlight and warmth.

A different matter would be if you had rented this property and after a few months for example of heavy rainfall the roof water seeped through or huge growth moulds appeared in which case the landlord would be responsible forh to mending them.

Yours sincerely,
Raymundo LarraÃ*n Nesbitt