I have been in an incredibly exhausting conflict with my public utility landlord for almost 3 years due to issues with moisture and mold in my apartment, which was said to be newly renovated but was unfortunately nothing more than a really ugly "fix and flip" where they simply laid new floors over rotten and moldy particle boards.
After many complications and with the help of the municipality's Environmental Unit, I finally got them to conduct an MVOC analysis after none of their indicative measurements could show any moisture, whereby they tried to ridicule me by saying that as there was no moisture, there couldn't be any mold either.
But since the apartment smelled strongly of mold almost everywhere, I refused to let them shirk their responsibility with such a stupid excuse, especially considering that there was red mold both along the floor and on the walls in the bathroom when I moved in.
Apparently, there had been a previous water damage/flooding in the bathroom, which led them to renovate the apartment. But instead of doing as they say they do in the case of water damage, they only removed about 70 cm of sand and the joists outside the bathroom door to then just throw a few new studs right on the concrete and lay a new floor over it, leading to a level difference between the two sets of joists, which they initially tried to blame on the sand having shifted.
It's worth noting that the building is from '71 and no inventory of the building materials was ever conducted before they just started cutting into walls and tearing up the apartment. Nor did the remediation firm (by the name Stahrebolaget) use any kind of partitioning between the rooms to protect my belongings or the ventilation system from being contaminated by mold spores, sand, or other construction dust.
Furthermore, I find it incomprehensible why they didn't bring in a vacuum truck from the beginning to suck out the sand from both the hallway, kitchen, and bedroom, but only used it to remove the sand in the bedroom. The reason why the bedroom, hallway, and kitchen were torn out was because material samples taken from the sand showed elevated levels of both Aspergillus Versicolor and Penicillium Chrysogenum in all these samples.
Now it’s soon going to be two years since this “renovation/remediation” was conducted, and the problems still remain. However, the apartment doesn’t smell as much of mold anymore, but whiffs do occur now and then, especially in my living room since that room was never addressed.
Unfortunately, there has now been a very strong sweet and penetrating smell that is worst in the bedroom where a new linoleum mat has been laid. Something I believe is due to not waiting long enough between pouring the new floors in the apartment until applying the surface treatment.
Moreover, when you read through the product information for the floor solution they used, which is of the type Weber.floor 130 Core, the drying time for up to 80mm layer is 5 days and for 100mm 7 days, but here they only waited 3 days before laying the new floors, and since the layer was between 80-100mm in almost the entire apartment, they clearly didn’t wait long enough before the surface treatment was conducted.
Therefore, I suspect that the smell coming from the bedroom now is due to saponification of the glue they used when laying the new linoleum mat in the bedroom. In addition to this, the apartment has also been affected by some sort of black soot that is impossible to get rid of. No matter how much I vacuum, wet wipe, or clean in general, I simply can’t get rid of this damn dust.
As soon as I’ve wiped down a surface, you can almost bet that it’s back within just a few hours again, and let’s not even talk about how my air purifier has gone through 3 HEPA filters in about 1½ years, when those filters should last at least a year before needing replacement.
I’m also worried that the walls they cut into contain asbestos, which Stahrebolaget insists is not the case, but I’ve never seen gypsum boards with fibers as thin as hair, and considering they didn’t bother at all to otherwise shield the apartment during the work, along with the fact that they claim to have conducted RF measurements in the concrete before pouring the new floors, yet I never saw a single trace of a drill hole anywhere in the entire apartment.
What do you think it could be for a material, as it’s surely not ordinary gypsum in any case, or am I just imagining things? And what tips do you have on what the heck can be done to somehow deal with this since my landlord refuses to cover any of the damages this crap has caused both me and my belongings.
They have offered me priority in the housing queue but otherwise, they don’t intend to compensate me for anything, which has led to them now withdrawing their promise of priority in the housing queue after I said that I would take the whole mess to the Rent Tribunal if necessary. The County Administrative Board has already, after my appeal of the Environmental Committee’s decision to dismiss the case, chosen to side with me and send the entire case back for further processing as new information has emerged during this time in the form of a new MVOC I had OCAB conduct, which this time showed even higher emission values than what ever existed before the renovation, and this air analysis was taken about 1½ years after the renovation was completed.
If it's a rental, the obvious choice should be to move instead of fighting. No wonder they withdrew the offer for priority!
Yes, it is indeed a rental. Unfortunately, it's not so easy to just move on a whim. First, you have to find an apartment you can afford, and then you often have to have been in the housing queue long enough to even get a new rental unless you are lucky enough to find a private landlord without a queue system.
But you mean I should just completely ignore that I've been cheated out of this apartment by the municipality's own public company and also accept having paid them almost 100,000 SEK too much in rent based on the deductions they've given me (which was a 35% rent reduction for 3 months) since the problem has existed since I moved in, especially since the Land Code is quite clear in its Chapter 12, Section 11, paragraphs 3-4?
3. For the time the apartment is in defective condition, the tenant is entitled to a reasonable reduction in rent.
4. The tenant is entitled to compensation for damage, unless the landlord shows that the defect is not due to his negligence.
And we haven't even counted the material damages they caused me in the apartment along with the physical health issues I've suffered due to the exposure here, such as asthmatic problems with chronic rhinitis and the fact that I've developed allergies I didn't previously have?
When I moved here, I also bought new furniture and decor for the entire apartment, which I surely spent around 100,000 SEK on just by itself.
There is at any rate no asbestos in the drywall so you don't need to worry about that. It looks like completely ordinary drywall.
Otherwise, I think you should report the matter to the rental board so you can get an objective assessment and then proceed. Regardless of the outcome, you should definitely look for another apartment.
There is at least no asbestos in the plasterboard, so you don't need to worry about that. It looks like regular plaster.
Otherwise, I think you should report this to the rent tribunal to get an objective assessment and then proceed. Regardless of the outcome, you should definitely look for another apartment.
Hope it resolves in the best way.
Fingers crossed that it gets resolved soon, are these walls made of plaster as well then? I think it looks like some kind of reinforcement or something similar at the bottom, and an acquaintance of mine who works in asbestos sanitation has said that it is quite likely that it could be asbestos.
mexitegel said:
