Landlord not addressing damp so I am leaving but where do I stand on the notice period etc?

I agree with previous respondents: real damp in a first-floor bedroom is highly unusual and almost certainly is being caused by a leaking roof or gutter outside. Any sane landlord would want to check this out and get it fixed, to avoid further damage to the property. The council's Environmental Health department will also take an interest and their involvement could spur the landlord to action.

However, "damp" defined as 'the walls feel moist and are mouldy, especially in the corners' is probably condensation, caused by cold external walls (poor insulation) and Sarah's behaviour. She needs to turn the heating up in the affected room, ventilate the room (open the window for a short period or leave the window's trickle vents open long-term), and/or stop drying clothes in there. It seems unlikely though that Sarah would be drying all her clothes in the children's bedroom, so perhaps moisture from the washing, kettle and shower is entering from other rooms and settling on the coldest walls in the house, leading to mould.

Other solutions include buying a dehumidifier - portable second-hand ones are cheap on EBay - or buying a condensing tumble-drier, or persuading the landlord to buy one. Dehumidifiers are cheap to run, tumble-driers less so, so there's also the old-fashioned technique of using a maiden or washing-line outside. I appreciate though that's not always practical during cold wet winters and with the volume of washing that three children can generate. An extractor in the bathroom and kitchen helps too, provided they are used regularly. It's all about allowing the house to "breathe" and keeping it well-ventilated.

You can kill mould and mould spores effectively using a product like HG Mould Spray, available for around £5 from tile merchants, DIY sheds etc. Be careful not to get it in your eyes though, and it can spot your clothes.

Reply to the comment left by "Anthony Endsor" at "15/02/2016 - 13:57":

Anthony, a in order to withhold rent reasonably i would expect the LL to have refused to identify and do works, a seperate contractor to the identified the actual cause , 3 quotes to heve been acquired for works , ll to refuse or fail to do identified works, or alternatively Environmental heath dept to id works and issue notice which Ll failed to do , then 3 quotes and failure of LL to respond, then and only then is it reasonable to withold the value of the invoice paid out to the contractor. " i aint paying the rent until you sort it " is not good or helpful advice.

By withholding rent (for more than the 7 or 14 days in the contract), that is repudiating the contract, bringing it to an end, and to avoid the legal liability of being sued for breach of contract, I would imagine the other party, the tenant has to be able to prove the contract had been violated by the other party, the LL, such that it was incapable of being remedied, or had not after ALL reasonable steps to seek a remedy had concluded.

Mould is far more often that not down to lifestyle, but if a structural problem, that is usually down to one or more provable defects. However that is a vast scam perpetrated by those selling damp cures most of which, and the guarantees are totally useless.

When you see mould on an internal door, that suggests vast amounts of moisture in the air, rather than (the myth) of rising damp, or a leaking roof or gutter.

I think throwing windows wide open for 10 minutes in a bedroom after it is vacated, is more effective and efficient than trickle vents, any evidence? But a lot of moisture is exhaled per person. It has to go somewhere, cold walls are an obvious target.

How does PIV and MVHR compare for running and initial costs, for retro fit in for poorly insulated buildings?

If it was as simple as opening a window for 10 minutes, I would have thought this may have been done by now. After 14 months it would be a little silly if this was the only cause of the problem.
As for repudiating the contract, it sounds to me as though this has already happened anyway with the Landlord, so I can hardly imagine this to be the case now.
Talking about reasonable, is it reasonable for a room to be out of use for 14 months despite repeated requests, and then for the cheeky Landlord to force the tenant to pay until the end of the following month after giving notice? The landlord has point blankly refused to do anything, so I would say it's more than reasonable to withhold rent in these circumstances.
It may not be the ideal solution, but what else is the tenant supposed to do?

Reply to the comment left by "Anthony Endsor" at "16/02/2016 - 09:46":

They are supposed to follow the CPR (Civil Procedure Rules), for disrepair!

They are there to help both parties in such situations and on the whole are not biased towards either party.

Damp issues plague the UK, some are structural, but most that I have come across are down to lack of ventilation in older houses never designed for insulation and double glazing turning them into lizard tanks as soon as laundry and cooking get going.

There is likely to be more information about this property that we are not aware of, so I would never suggest breaching a contract.

As for the notice period, this is laid out in The Prevention From Eviction Act 1977, Part II, section 5.
(Google or Bing ) it, it's called Validity of Notices To Quit.

The landlord appears to be non professional, but all this should take is a conversation, followed, if necessary by a visit by the council.

Reply to the comment left by "Anthony Endsor" at "16/02/2016 - 09:46":

This has already been answered.

Withholding rent due to outstanding repairs is wrong. It should be done via EH. Breaking the contract by both sides is not the best answer. (If anyone does that, be prepared to move out sooner or later, the contract is broken.)

No additional rent should be paid in these circumstances of OP.

They can try claiming rent paid back, IF the complaints had been put in writing and not attended to.

Mould is rarely due to one cause. The so called damp cure companies have a vested interest in purveying their myths,

Allowing walls to breath and ventilation are the most important aspects one structural defects have been ruled out. I am not convinced heat is vital, our bedroom is rarely heated, we have no condensation problems. A warm dry duvet is healthier. My shed door nor walls have mould, but no heating.

Solid walls, lime plaster are fine, but then cover in modern non porous paint is certain to cause problems. Find the real causes, not loads of chemical "cures" is the best policy.

I think you have a very hard-nosed landlord. I would be quite happy with one month's notice - in fact my agent does not hold people to the end of the month. It would be chaos if everyone moved on the same date.

They can remarket it now but it sounds like a lazy landlord putting it off.

Reply to the comment left by "Jan Martin" at "15/02/2016 - 13:40":
I had to recently request a lodger to move out because of mould caused by condensation. The lodger moved into my flat 3 months back and blocked up every bit of window/air vent in the common areas and her room. The windows in her room were not opened even once in the last 3 months, as she wanted to reduce the energy bills. Consequently I had mould growing everywhere on bathroom and window kitchen sill, first time ever in all the 6 years I have been living there and having lodgers. When I tried to speak to her about it, she told me its a 'landlord' issue, nothing to do with her, and if anything, she should not pay her rent until I get it sorted. I realised that she is not the right kind of person for me, gave her adequate notice and requested her to find another place where she might be happier. She really wanted to live there but i had no choice left. Since she has moved out, I am glad to say the mould is gone. Certain things are 'landlord responsibility' but I do believe that tenants need be a bit responsible as well, educate themselves on house maintenence and try to find the 'real cause' of any problem first before blaming others.

Thank you everyone for your comments, I have had to set up a new account as I couldn't log into the old one. The damp is penetrating damp due to a raised concrete floor in a garage which is directly behind the wall of the end bedroom. The property is an old cow shed and the damp is coming in from the garage behind which leaks and as a consequence has a damp floor. I have addressed the issue with both the landlords. I live in a small cottage in the grounds of the main house where my landlords live and so I was wary of upsetting them as my children and I are vulnerable due to fleeing a violent marriage. I have asked them repeatedly to help me and they did nothing other than say they didn't know what was causing the problem. so yesterday I had the environmental health chap out from the council and he has confirmed that the damp is penetrating and the room is NOT suitable as a bedroom or playroom due to the damp spores which are fluffy and protruding from the wall. He was gobsmacked when I said the landlords had installed a brand new tennis court at a cost of many thousands pf pounds over the summer and yet would not pay out for a builder to come and see what the problem was and address it. Therefore I am going to take them to small claims court for the rent paid on the room for the 17 months of my tenancy. I would love to have resolved this amicably but the landlady particularly was nasty and aggressive each time a asked them to please sort out the problem. I have been the model tenant and I feel they have not done as they should as per the terms of the tenancy agreement in fixing the damp issue. They have also bullied me and arranged multiple viewings for the cottage sometimes 4 a day when I wrote to them asking if they would please limit them to 2 a day. I got a snotty letter saying they would enter the property when they liked. I am leaving now so its not going to be my issue any more but I feel I am entitled to compensation. The EH chap is going to write me a letter stating the room was not fir for purpose as he also felt I had a strong case.

Your LL needs a good good up the backside, good luck with your claim