A family in New York family goes through a constructive eviction from their apartment due to mold in a story that plays out like so many others. But this one has a happy ending – sort of.
Seth Nagel had to uproot his family from their Chelsea apartment and move into a hotel after toxic black mold made the apartment uninhabitable. This was especially true for their four-year-old son Abraham, who had to visit a doctor twelve times in four months because of his symptoms, including vomiting and weight loss.
The situation turned into a classic tenant-landlord mold struggle. Nagel paid to have the apartment sampled where it tested positive for toxic levels of mold, the highest concentration in Abraham’s room. The management company which runs the building hired its own experts who claimed the mold was within acceptable levels, but would not provide the documentation to support this.
Apparently, the management company knew about the mold and leaks but could not execute their clean-up plan since the Nagels and others would not allow access to their apartments. Nagel says a series of professionals determined the proposed clean-up plan would “do more harm than good.”
I’m not sure what about the clean-up plan made Nagel and others refuse to allow it. It’s true that untrained mold remediators can make a mold situation worse by disturbing mold growth, causing it to release more spores into the air. Or, maybe Nagel is referring to the chemicals sometimes used by mold removal companies that can leave a toxic residue more harmful to inhabitants than the mold itself.
The good news for the Nagels is that after their story appeared on the local news, the story got relayed to their insurance company and they soon received a check for $20,000. But, before you get excited about cashing in on your mold problem, keep in mind Nagel says that will only cover about 40% of his expenses resulting from this situation.
But the news story also got the Department of Buildings involved, which inspected the building and found it bulging and cracking – allowing water into apartments to create mold. After the building owners failed to make repairs a few weeks later the Department of Buildings issued an Environmental Control Board violation.
The frustration endured by the Nagels is not uncommon. So many people face the same struggle every day. Idon’t like to call them mold victims, because the mold itself is not their biggest problem. The problem belongs to those unwilling to take responsible actions to prevent mold and get rid of it for the sake of their tenants and occupants.
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