New student tenant alleges mould – but we can’t find it?

Hello everyone, I have a student tenant who moved in on July 1st and as soon as little more than 2 weeks later he was already threatening legal action against me and going to the council for alleged mould issues. He also had made complaints about various non-issues such as a thermostat that was said not be working but actually was – to a chair was broken but just needed tightening up – to complaining previous tenants left behind a few items which were as trivial as cup and plate and their copy of the tenancy agreement.

From the very beginning, the mould according to him is –everywhere– in the house. He also claims to have asthma yet there is evidence he actually smokes. For what it is worth, he has also set up cameras outside and inside the property also. The managing agent has gone round twice and could not see anything and nor the parents of the tenant could point to anything.

When asked where is the mould, the parents just gestured, is it not obvious? So, the agent spent a while looking and found a microscopic piece the size of what half a millimetre. So I/Managing agent then also arranged for a contractor to examine the place and the report could not find anything of note mould-wise either. The report did find one smallish damp patch on the party wall that he intimated was caused by next door – and any rate is not that tenant’s room and the tenant/parents has not even raised that issue. The damp patch does not even feel wet, just somewhat cooler.

Also somewhat relevant a few years ago, I had someone with pre-existing very serious lung issues who never said/complaining their lung issues was getting worse while living there.

So, fast forward to this week and the tenant’s guarantors have sent a copy of a report from a Danish firm who claim to do qpcr test (air sampling). The report refers to one room having been tested (probably the damp patch room). Then he has — another company — claiming it is ‘very dangerous’. The tenant is American and the company who claim it is very dangerous seem to based on American technology of ‘dry fogging’ and seem to do their own reports as well.

Neither of the reports had any photos be it normal or thermal to demonstrate anything either. The dry fogging firm came across as just a sales pitch if anything.

To repeat, the tenant has not sent any photos of mould or damp, but he did send photos of the thermostat and the offending things left behind by the previous tenants. So, I am just left with the alleged levels recorded by the Danish firm that state they sent the kit to take the sample then you send it to them.

I have no real evidence that the test results were truly even done at the house. I am just thinking is this because he just wants the place ‘dry fogged’ or just to cook up a false compensation claim. I can’t state enough I and the agents have not been able to see anything. The levels of the report are as follows:

Universal fungi 463.529 Mucor/Rhizopus grp. 560
Acremonium strictum 2 Pen/Asp/Pae grp. 445.746
Alternaria alternata 2 Penicillium chrysogenum 33
Aspergillus fumigatus 4 Penicillium expansum 35
Aspergillus glaucus grp. 356 Rhizopus stolonifer 0
Aspergillus niger 4 Stachybotrys chartarum 4
Aspergillus versicolor 22.138 Streptomyces spp. 87
Chaetomium globosum 3 Tricoderma viride 0
Cladosporium cladosporides 865 Ulocladium chartarum 6
Cladosporium herbarum 499 Wallemia sebi 3.750
Cladosporium sphaerospermum 497

Any suggestions of what I should do?

Sam

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