I live in a village house and after renovation by landlord 18 months ago the walls are now getting moldy. The contractor was asked to use proper mold-proof paint but seems to have skimped and opted for cheapest low quality paint instead. Example: I killed a mosquito and when I used a damp cloth to wipe the blood and mosquito remains off the wall, the paint came off as well. And of course the large black stains spreading on the wall...
Landlord has now promised to clean and paint the affected areas of the walls. While I am not happy about this kind of patch work approach, I also have a house full of furniture and cats, and I am not eager at all to move everything away so that ALL the walls could be painted!
I have kept my windows close and have been using air con, dehumidifier and heating fans as appropriate to the weather. Now the landlord keeps insisting I should leave the windows always open at least a crack, to keep ventilation going as he is “guaranteeing” this will solve the problem and keep mold away. Well I don’t agree, since the past 20 years I have lived one floor up in the same village house, and in that floor I always had the windows a crack open because I had mosquito nets. After a few years, mold was growing on every wall and ceiling surface, and when repeated cleaning with bleach finally failed to remove the stains, I bought mold-proof paint and fixed the walls myself. No more mold.
I cannot imagine how what didn’t work in the old floor would suddenly help in the new floor of the house, and I intend to keep my windows closed, mosquitoes and other bugs and humid air outside. Frustrated about the attitude of the landlord. I could of course install mosquito nets and keep the windows open and then invite him to inspect the moldy walls a few years after, but not interested in providing him with free nets. At that point he might agree to paint the rest of the walls, but then I have to move the house contents to make way for another renovation...