Discovered removing mold from wallpaper

Hello everyone,

I started removing the wallpaper in my rental apartment today because I am moving out. I came across the following... (see pictures) I think this might be mold, am I right? If so, who is responsible for it? The tenant or the landlord? I have always ventilated and heated properly. The apartment is a basement apartment.

Best regards

Hello Dominic_Jngt

ok, the question is surely meant seriously.
Who lived in the apartment? You as the tenant or the landlord?
Obviously something went wrong. Mold developed.
Now comes the question of who is to blame. Ideally, the landlord should bear the costs.
We have a housing shortage in Germany. Apartments are becoming scarce, ergo: rents increase.
The state intervenes more and more. There is no freedom of contract for the landlord. This discourages many investors from building rental apartments. So fewer apartments will be built, rents rise. The upward spiral is activated.
Now one can babble on about expropriation, rent caps etc. As soon as the state intervenes, things go wrong. Rents become more expensive, apartments rarer.
Long story short, no sense at all: talk to the landlord. A solution should be feasible. You lived there. You caused the mold.

Steven

The mold can also have arisen for other reasons. Quick and dirty: remove the mold, let it dry well, preferably no wallpaper, paint the wall with mineral or special mold-resistant paint. No reinforced glue. No washable paint! Better: remove the plaster in the mold areas, replaster, use mineral or special paint. Best: have thermal bridges and damp spots detected, fix the cause, often it is enough to apply calcium silicate boards, remove and replace the affected plaster, no more wallpaper, now comes the paint again, possibly impose a condition on the next tenant that they are not allowed to place a cupboard against the wall there. The least of this is tenant duties. A good expert shows every tenant that they are responsible. It’s like with a car: if the engine was running, you are also partly to blame. Would I want to get into trouble as a tenant? Best regards Gabriele

...
I always ventilated and heated properly.
...

Easier said (written) than done.

Is it an exterior wall? Was there a cupboard or something similar standing against the wall, especially where the wallpaper is missing?

...
You lived there. You caused the mold.
...

Isn't that thinking a bit too simple?

What can you see in the first picture at the bottom left? Is there even a water mark visible?

that is minimal. mold on it. let it take effect.

inform the landlord that there was a problem there but it has now been resolved.