Mould and damp in a rented home: your rights

Mould in a rented home is nearly always a damp problem, and damp is nearly always the landlord's problem. The Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 require the structure to be free of damp and in good repair. They also require adequate ventilation in every room, extractors in the kitchen and bathroom, and a fixed heating appliance in every room. A home that grows mould is usually missing one of those, or has one that does not work.

Your part is to use what is provided and to report the problem in writing as soon as you see it. Beyond that the duty to find the cause and fix it is the landlord's, under section 12 of the Residential Tenancies Act. Wiping the wall is not a fix.

This guide covers who is responsible, what the standards say, the difference between condensation and structural damp, and the route to an inspection and an order. The standards check runs your home against the damp, ventilation and heating standards and drafts the letter.

What the standards say

Three of the eleven headings in the 2019 Regulations bear on mould. Together they mean that a home must be dry, must be able to breathe, and must be able to be heated.

A landlord who provides none of the ventilation, or whose extractor has not worked for a year, is below the standard, and the mould is the result of that. The same is true of a leaking roof, a blocked gutter, a failed damp-proof course or a window that will not open.

Condensation or structural damp

Landlords often say the mould is "lifestyle", meaning condensation from cooking, showering and drying clothes indoors. Sometimes that is part of it. Condensation forms on cold surfaces when warm, moist air meets them, and it shows as black spots on outside walls, in corners, behind furniture and around windows. It is worse in a home that is cold, has no working extractors and cannot be aired.

Structural damp comes from outside or from below: a leak, a cracked wall, rising damp through the floor, a gutter spilling down a wall. It shows as tide marks, blistering paint, a wet patch that grows after rain, or a smell that does not go.

The distinction matters less than it sounds, because both are the landlord's to deal with. Condensation that persists in a home with heating and working extractors still points to a defect: a cold bridge, a blocked vent, single glazing that was never upgraded. The Regulations require the home to be free of damp. They do not require you to live in a cold home with the windows open in January.

What you are expected to do

Use the extractor when you cook and shower, open windows for a time each day, and heat the rooms you use. Avoid drying clothes on radiators with the windows shut where you can. Keep furniture a little off outside walls. Wipe mould off surfaces with a proper cleaner so it does not spread, and photograph it first.

None of that is a condition of the landlord's duty. It is what the RTB will ask about if the landlord argues that the mould is your doing, and it is easier to answer when you can say you did it. A short note in your tenancy file of what you do each week is enough.

Report it in writing

Write to the landlord as soon as you see mould, with photographs and the date. Name the rooms, say what you think the cause is if you can, and say what you have been doing to ventilate and heat. Ask for the cause to be found and fixed by a date. This site uses 28 days as a planning figure for a non-urgent repair and 7 days where heating is part of the problem; neither is a legal limit. The letter builder drafts the request.

If someone in the home has asthma, is a baby or is elderly, say so and ask for a shorter date. Keep a copy of everything. Keep paying the rent in full; the Act does not allow rent to be withheld over a repair, and arrears would give the landlord a ground to end the tenancy.

The local authority inspection

If the date passes, ask your local authority's private rented inspection service to inspect. This is the body that enforces the 2019 Regulations, and it comes before the RTB. The inspector visits, checks the home against each standard, and writes a report. Where the home fails, the council can serve an improvement notice requiring the landlord to do the work, and then a prohibition notice if it is not done. A home let under HAP must in any case be inspected within 8 months.

Find your council's contact on the county pages. Rented housing inspections explains what to write and what happens next.

The RTB

After the local authority, or alongside it where the landlord is doing nothing, you can open a dispute at the RTB for a breach of section 12. Mediation is free and private. Adjudication costs €30 and the hearing is public since 14 September 2026. The RTB can order the landlord to carry out the work by a date and can award damages of up to €20,000. The published figures show the typical award is far lower, about €3,900 in one review, because it compensates proven loss such as damaged belongings and extra heating costs, not distress.

Bring the inspection report if you have one, the letters, the photographs with dates, and receipts for anything ruined. RTB evidence: what to bring covers how to present it.

Where this leaves you

A mouldy home is a damp home, and the 2019 Regulations say a rented home must be free of damp, ventilated and heated. The landlord must find the cause and fix it; you must use the ventilation and heating that are there and report the problem in writing. Write with photographs and a date, keep paying the rent, then ask the local authority to inspect, and go to the RTB for an order and damages if the landlord still does nothing. Threshold on 1800 454 454, Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm, is free and sees these cases every week. The repairs journey takes you through the steps in order.