Mold in rentals is a joint obligation of resident-owner liability, responsibility, and prevention. If you encounter mold lurking and leaking in from the edges of your walls, you are experiencing in an environmentally hazardous situation.
A tense landlord-resident dispute in Long Beach, California, had made its way into local headlines. Here is a case study where one of the residents living at 3810 Ocean Blvd. continued to get sick. After running a panel of tests, the doctor validated that mold spores were most likely the result of the resident’s discomfort. To be sure, the resident had the unit tested – and sure enough, an inspector confirmed that there was mold in the unit. The resident informed the property owner and management company but alleged that they declined to take any curative action.
When the building’s other residents caught wind of what was going on, they, too, elected to have their units examined. A second mold report also authenticated the presence of mold.
Four residents of the building have filed a lawsuit against the owner and management company for failing to provide a habitable dwelling and declining to pay relocation expenses to the residents so they could move elsewhere while the units were remediated. The plaintiffs were seeking unspecified damages related to medical bills, loss of earnings, emotional distress, pain, suffering, and humiliation.
To some extent, this is a rather straightforward landlord-resident conflict. So why did it show up in the headlines?
Furthermore, the owner and property management company are also accountable for a nearby property, a 9-unit apartment building also located in Long Beach. A similar situation transpired here.
One of the residents at this building had been voicing concerns. The matter raised was regarding the presence of mold. It was not until the resident got ill and had to be hospitalized that the owner consented to test the apartment for mold. The mold test came back positive.
Conceivably, the owner had learned from their previous transgressions. They volunteered to pay for the resident and her family to stay in a hotel so the mold could be removed.
All was copacetic until the building’s other residents asked for their units to be tested for mold. When the mold inspection came back “inconclusive,” the property management company reacted by issuing all of those residents a 3-day notice to vacate. The only resident that wasn’t given a notice to leave was the third-floor resident, who hadn’t asked for the mold test to be administered.
Residents maintain this is a reprisal for supplicating an inspection. The property manager says the mold report recommended that a “destructive investigation” be performed– a protocol that entails taking the walls out down to the studs – to see if there is moisture buildup that is (or could) cause mold to grow. That was the only measure to ensure the units were safe.
Yet the 3-day notice to vacate only mentioned to a vague “health problem” that may or may not exist. The residents requested a copy of the mold report, but the property management company declined to oblige. This case ended up entangled in costly litigation; something owners always hope to avoid. Renters throughout the United States have victoriously fought their cases and been conferred millions of dollars in damages a $4.3 million suit alleges renter was poisoned by mold in Knoxville, TN.
Poisonous Mold Species
Aspergillus: Aggravates asthma, cystic fibrosis, and immune-deficiency diseases.
Fusarium: Can cause infections of the eyes, nails or skin, and systemic diseases of vulnerable immune systems.
Paecilomyces: Can cause hypersensitivity of the skin and respiratory system.
Penicillium: Can cause lasting damage neurologically and psychologically as well as permanently damage immune systems, inducing bone and internal organ infections, skin lesions, and respiratory complications.
Stachybotrys (commonly called “black mold”)
Can cause respiratory complications, aggravate respiratory diseases such as asthma, can provoke nose bleeds and memory loss.
So, what can we learn from this situation?
Here’s what multifamily owners need to know to prevent themselves from getting into a similar dilemma:
Notably, be informed that an owner’s duties around mold remediation are hardly outlined in local building codes, ordinances, statutes, or other regulations.
What’s more, no federal law on the issue exists, and only a few states have selected criteria for permitted mold standards. New Jersey, Texas, California, Indiana, and Maryland are amongst the few that have.
Exploring the National Conference of State Legislature’s database for “mold” will help you ascertain if any ordinances exist for your local community. These laws do not always shed light on who is responsible for mold remediation, even if the degree of mold is deemed in violation of local building or health codes.
Typically, owners are liable for mold remediation if a breach of the building codes caused the mold. Some examples include ineffective ventilation in the bathrooms, inadequate cleaning, and inept drying of carpets after apartment flooding, or improper clean-up after a fire.
Owners are also liable if an “inhabitable premises” caused the mold – i.e., the owner has failed to make sensible repairs. For example, failure to fix a leaky roof, sink, or windows may breed mold. At that point, the owner is responsible for mold removal if he did not fix the leaks (understanding, of course, that the resident has advised the landlord of said leaks).
Conversely, the resident is responsible for keeping the premises sanitary. If the resident’s behavior is a contributory factor to the mold growth, then the resident can be held culpable for its removal. Follow these tips for controlling moisture:
Correctly vent clothes dryers to the outdoors.
Request air conditioning and clothes dryer ducts to be routinely cleaned.
Use exhaust fans during showers, and while cooking.
Clean up water spills promptly.
Report water leaks and tub overflows to landlord/management rapidly.
Perhaps the most crucial thing for owners and property managers to keep in mind, regardless of who’s technically at fault, is that mold removal needs to be dealt with as soon as it’s discovered.
Prevention is favored to a costly mold clean-up. Maintenance and repair requests made by residents should be immediately dealt with. Such service orders also include cleaning air conditioning and clothes dryer ducts. If such claims are grossly delayed in resolving or are ignored altogether, liability for resulting mold growth falls on the landlord.
The longer you wait, the more it can spread, and the harder (and costlier!) it will be to remove down the line