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By Emily Mee, News Reporter

The worst state of real estate is found in the private rental sector.

The Decent Homes Standard, the minimum standard for decentness and habitability, only applies to social housing. However, if this standard were to be applied to the private rental sector, it is expected that around a quarter of homes would not meet the standard.

Damp and mold are some of the most common problems tenants face and can pose serious health risks, but it can be hard to know what to do about them.

Jenny Lamb, Policy Officer at Shelter, explained what you can do (but be warned: taking action can be risky. Read on to see what we mean)…

Find out who you are dealing with

First, you need to know who will manage your property.

Some landlords take care of the maintenance and care of the property themselves, while others leave this to the letting agent.

If your property is managed by a landlord

Jenny says your options are “pretty limited,” but the first step is to contact your landlord and let him or her know about the problem.

Basically you’re letting them know there’s a problem.

You must give them a reasonable period of time to respond. However, according to Jenny, a ‘reasonable period of time’ is not legally defined.

“You can make a rough estimate, it depends on how much moisture is affected and where the moisture is coming from,” she says.

If the landlord does not respond at all or refuses to carry out work, the time period before you can take further action may be shorter.

The next step is to contact your local authority environmental health team, who can come and investigate.

Typically they will want to view the property in person to conduct an inspection and then assess how serious the hazard is, such as whether it poses a threat to health and safety.

Jenny explains that they can then choose to send the landlord one of two notices.

One is a more stringent enforceable improvement notice, which means the landlord can be fined or face enforcement action if they don’t fix the problem. In this case, the tenant is protected from eviction for six months.

The other option is for the landlord to be notified that there is a problem with the property and that he/she must resolve the problem.

However, Jenny warns that this does not protect the tenant, and that they are therefore at risk of a ‘revenge eviction’ (more on that later).

If your property is managed by a letting agent

In this case, Jenny says, you should find out what the broker’s internal complaints procedure is.

Only once you have gone through this procedure should you find out which compensation schemes the letting agent participates in.

Estate agents are legally required to participate in one of two compensation schemes: the Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme.

These organisations can mediate and ensure that the tenant offers an apology, has work carried out in the home or in some cases even receives compensation.

That’s how it should work, but isn’t it too risky for tenants?

While these options may be successful in some cases, tenants may be afraid of causing problems because of the threat of “revenge evictions.”

Currently, landlords are allowed to evict tenants without giving a reason. This is called a no-fault eviction or a Section 21 notice.

Tenants must be notified two months in advance. This is only possible with a continuous lease or a fixed-term contract if there is a notice period.

In some cases, landlords have even issued a “revenge eviction,” where a tenant is evicted after complaining about a problem with the property.

Research by Shelter shows that tenants who complain about their property are 2.5 times more likely to receive a Section 21 notice than tenants who do not.

“I would even go so far as to say that there is no real compensation possible for tenants, especially not for damp and neglected conditions, while Article 21 exists because the threat of eviction through no fault of their own is too great,” says Jenny.

She says tenants could be left “vulnerable” to retaliation if they involve a local authority, especially in a market where demand is so high that “there is likely to be a long queue of people desperate for a home who are keeping quiet”.

The new Labour government has pledged to reintroduce a ban on Section 21 notices, which was postponed by the previous government.

Should you withhold the rent or try to fix the problem yourself?

If you get stuck, you may be tempted to withhold rent as a solution. But Jenny says that’s “not a way to negotiate.”

“You are obligated to pay your rent regardless of what service you receive,” she says.

“I want to warn tenants: no matter how tempting it is, no matter how unfair it feels, keep paying your rent, because otherwise you will only make the situation worse.”

Some tenants try to do the work themselves and charge the landlord for it, but Jenny says you need to follow a ‘proper procedure’ to do this.

The landlord must accept that the tenant will carry out the work. The tenant must then draw up quotes and keep track of the costs.

However, Jenny warns that it is “not set in stone” that tenants in this situation will get their money back.