Is urgent professional mold cleaning my landlord's responsibility?« Back to Previous Page

Under Dubai's rental law (Law No. 26 of 2007), landlords are responsible for maintaining the structural integrity of the property, which includes addressing issues like leaks in plumbing or external walls that lead to mold. However, maintenance of internal fixtures and addressing condensation from daily use, like shower steam, typically falls to the tenant.

The black mold under the sealant is urgent to address. In Dubai's high humidity, especially now, mold colonies can spread rapidly into the wall cavity behind the tiles, making the problem much more extensive and costly to fix. This type of growth often indicates a persistent moisture issue that needs to be resolved at its source.

Your first step is to immediately notify your building management and landlord in writing, with photos. They need to send a technician to inspect for a potential leak from the shower's waste pipe or water supply lines behind the wall. If the leak is from the building's plumbing, it is unequivocally their responsibility to fix it.

If they confirm the moisture is solely from condensation and humidity, the cleaning responsibility may be yours, but the underlying cause still needs a professional solution. Simply wiping it away or reapplying silicone yourself will not work; the mold will return. A specialist should remove the contaminated sealant, treat the underlying substrate with antimicrobial solutions to kill the root structure, and only then apply new sealant. This process, coupled with improving bathroom ventilation by running the exhaust fan longer, is what provides a lasting solution. For a case like this in Jumeirah, where humidity is a known accelerator, a professional assessment is strongly recommended to determine the full extent.