Can Guarantor give notice to end tenancy that has become periodic?

Reply to the comment left by Chris Byways at 14/06/2021 - 08:50
It would appear that you have a flat where there is a complaint of damp, which you assume to be due to tenant lifestyle (or do you have a professional opinion in writing to confirm this?).

You have stated that the tenant refuses to ventilate, but have not mentioned what passive or active ventilation has been provided by the landlord, e.g. air vents or humidistat extractors.

If the tenant is experiencing damp issues, then they should have reported this to the landlord, and only involved the EH Officer if the landlord refused to investigate or remedy. If considered to be solely due to tenant lifestyle, then the landlord or agent can give appropriate advise to the tenant. Likewise if EH inspect and come to the same conclusion then they should also give advise to the tenant on how to minimise the condensation.

However, the EH officer may also suggest actions that the landlord can do to improve ventilation within the property, e.g. air vents through walls, trickle vents through window frames, mechanical extraction (usually just in bathrooms and kitchens).

Although tenant should in the first instance report any damp issues to the landlord (are you 100% certain they did not report issues to the letting agent?), they do have a legal right to report to EH if they wish, so I don't think you could claim compensation from them for any delay in the EH officer doing their inspection (but why has EH already told the tenant it's "lifestyle" unless they have already inspected, in which case why do they need to come again?).

I also don't see how it necessarily prevents any viewings or signing up of new tenants. Tenants can see the quality of the accommodation at the viewing, and you can simply say that as a responsible landlord you have arranged for the council to come and inspect the property and advise on any ventilation improvements that may be a good idea.

In relation to who to email or correspond with, then I would assume that you deal with whoever your contract is with, i.e. your tenants. If they wish to formally appoint someone else as their legal representative or appointee, then they can do so, and when you have such evidence of this formal appointee, then you can liaise with that person instead.

Robert, The agent’s comment was “she’s a liar”
I have to agree. She said it had been ventilated when it hasn’t. She said Environmental Health would visit AGAIN in 4 to 8 weeks. EH say they haven’t visited. EH Agreed to my request for a visit!

They asked her a series of questions over the phone, and said it was obviously condensation, told her so and closed the enquiry of as “Lifestyle - no further action.” Not what the tenant told the agent!

However I manage all my properties, the agent was no longer involved. IF they had had any reports they would have told her and copied me in. I had a good relationship with agent.

Yes of course there is fixed ventilation and overrun-mechanical ventilation. There are 8 opening windows in this Victorian era flat, 6 are sash with security limits top & bottom. £3,500 was spent last Nov just before she begged for a 6m in stead of 12m. So 1 month was lost in agents fees. The rent is below the Broad Area Market Rental, the EPC is above average for the area, & if I spent £6.5k on the recommended improvements it would take over 100 years to save the cost in heating savings, and still end up in the same band, so there is nowt more I can do.

I have paid for a damp report last week and it was absolutely fine.

She was a first time renter, so no landlord reference!!!! Hence the guarantor. I am not highly experienced I admit, a little over 50 ‘property/years’, but I do know rising damp (myth), leaking roofs, porous walls, blocked gutters etc etc.

So when EH visited, they claim there was ‘surface damp’ from their Protimeter, and in a just a few places ‘penetrating damp’. However unfortunately of course these meters do NOT show if it’s damp or salts.

British Standard 5250: 2011 (Code of Practise for the Control of Condensation in Buildings) states on Page 19 the following:

“B 8: Measurement of dampness
Accurate measurements of the moisture content of brick or mortar cannot be obtained by the use of electrical moisture meters because the presence of salts increases the electrical conductance of the water, giving falsely high readings. Gravimetric methods carried out on samples taken from the fabric give the most reliable results. The use of chemical absorption type moisture meters will give a result in a short space of time and be almost as reliable“