No vents in apartment

banchang

I have a 1 bed apartment - neither living room nor bedroom has an external wall vent, but there is one opening sash window in each room.

Is an external vent an additional requirement, or do the windows fulfill building reg requirements ?

I have a mould problem, & would like to avoid having to leave windows open in winter, but understand if that's what it takes...

Thoughts welcome.

Walter2016

is there a "trickle vent" built into the top of the window? If so, make sure its in the open position and clear of dust / debris.

banchang

Thanks for prompt reply

Yes there is such a vent & it is in open position in both rooms, but it is so small such that it has no impact & mould/condensation is growing.

I would have thought that an external vent would be needed, but it is a protected building with 2' thick stone walls so perhaps they met requiremts by just having openable windows.

pinkypinky

Pretty standard in modern apartments to just have the vents in the windows. Agree it's not sufficient but there isn't much you can do about it.

Metric Tensor

It depends on what you mean by "meets the requirements"

If an apartment was built today it would require vents or some form of mechanical ventilation but the building regulations are constantly updated and this was not always a requirement so whether the apartment is compliant with the building regulations depends on what version of them you are talking about and hence the age of the apartment.

Having said all that it would make good sense to have a vent in each room but you can't just whack one in to a protected structure. Opening the windows will accomplish the same thing but there's a security issue.

One final point. If there's a gas/oil/solid fuel appliance in either of the rooms you need a vent immediately for safety.

punisher5112

Get a dehumidifier and use vinegar and water mix and clean off mould. You can buy special paint to help stop it.

Make sure to open windows when you can and also make sure you heat the place properly also.

spaceHopper

Your best bet is a dehumidifier, either a plug in one or chemical one from hardware store. Lidl and Aldi often have the chemical one's for caravans / campers.

mad m

Checkout other apartments like yours and see if they have external vents. Management company may not allow you to put vents in.

banchang

Will do - thanks all for replies.

The_Conductor

Re: 'meeting requirements' the property only has to meet the building regulations that were in place when it was constructed- not any regulations that were implemented at a later date. So- if the vents in windows were sufficient when it was constructed- then, yes, it does meet requirements.

As a general rule of thumb- most management companies will insist that if additional ventilation is being retrofitted- that a company such as 'Holemasters' be used to drill the masonry work- it is not satisfactory to get a cowboy to drill 200 holes with a household drill and knock them into a single external hole- and will likely land you with a legal bill from the Management Company if you go down that road.

Talk to the Management Company- they should know what the story is.

Gumbo

mad m wrote: »

Checkout other apartments like yours and see if they have external vents. Management company may not allow you to put vents in.

In a protected structure, the answer will be a flat no id assume as it would technically require planning permission.

riclad

my Friend got her boyfriend to drill holes and put in one vent in the wall
of the ground floor apartment she is renting out .
But she is the landlord and don,t think she told the management company
what she was doing .
The apartment she owns is 12 years old .

Gumbo

riclad wrote: »

my Friend got her boyfriend to drill holes and put in one vent in the wall
of the ground floor apartment she is renting out .
But she is the landlord and don,t think she told the management company
what she was doing .
The apartment she owns is 12 years old .

This kind of thing cannot be done in a protected structure.

antoinolachtnai

kceire wrote: »

This kind of thing cannot be done in a protected structure.

The 2inch stone walls would also make it difficult.

Do the extractors in kitchen and bathrooms extract to outside the apartment? If they do (and they should) running these on a timer for a few hours in the middle of the day would air the apartment pretty well.

athtrasna

riclad wrote: »

my Friend got her boyfriend to drill holes and put in one vent in the wall
of the ground floor apartment she is renting out .
But she is the landlord and don,t think she told the management company
what she was doing .
The apartment she owns is 12 years old .

That's vandalism of common property. She doesn't own the apartment, she has a long lease from the management company who own the building. Absolutely unacceptable.

riclad

her apartment was inspected ,she Was told there would need to be
a new vent put in the front wall ,
i presume she got a note from the rental unit local authority inspector .
i suppose she should have asked the management company for permission
before doing it.

The_Conductor

riclad wrote: »

her apartment was inspected ,she Was told there would need to be
a new vent put in the front wall ,
i presume she got a note from the rental unit local authority inspector .
i suppose she should have asked the management company for permission
before doing it.

She does not own the wall- the Management Company do.
Wholly irrespective of whether it was inspected by the pope- it is not her prerogative to drill holes in it- and she could be asked to reconstitute the wall, making good any changes she had made.

It is not an apartment owner's prerogative to damage common property.

antoinolachtnai

The inspector is not in a position to prescribe something like that. They are entitled to make a finding about the ventilation if they have objective grounds and maybe to make an informal suggestion but they are not entitled to order anyone to drill a hole (and I would be surprised if they would).

riclad

i don,t know the exact details ,maybe they said ,room 1 needs more ventilation.
i just know the landlord ,
she said i was told you need to provide 1 new vent .
Otherwise the apartment was fine re tenant building standards .
i built an extension we put 2 or 3 vents in the front wall
and it was inspected by the council and it passed the inspection.

The_Conductor

Riclad- I honestly am not following what you're saying at all.
I take it you're talking about two separate properties- one of which is not an apartment- and how you built an extension and had to have it inspected.
Either way- its not relevant to the OP- nor does it excuse your girlfriend drilling holes in the wall of her apartment.

Gumbo

riclad wrote: »

i don,t know the exact details ,maybe they said ,room 1 needs more ventilation.
i just know the landlord ,
she said i was told you need to provide 1 new vent .
Otherwise the apartment was fine re tenant building standards .
i built an extension we put 2 or 3 vents in the front wall
and it was inspected by the council and it passed the inspection.

When did you build this extension?
The council haven't "passed " extensions since Building Bye Law days and they're pre 1992ish.