This is an interesting twist on the typical story of tenants complaining about a moldy apartment building and a landlord denying any sort of problem exists. This time the landlord has crossed over from the defensive and taken an offensive position, saying that if mold exists it is probably the fault of his mold-loving tenants.

At The Palms apartment complex in Gonzales, Louisiana, not one, but multiple tenants are having problems with mold. The slimy stuff is growing in and outside of their apartment units. You can find it on the walls, ceiling and furniture.

Nordeya Lawson, a building tenant, has had to move out of the building after this mold became unbearable. Two of her three children suffered symptoms of blurred vision, dizziness, memory loss and bad headaches. She even took one of them to the hospital.

“I called the doctor and asked and they told me it was probably the cause of them being sick because mold is very toxic,” said Lawson. If Lawson’s children’s symptoms are caused by mold then they have been exposed to a great amount of toxic, not just allergic, mold causing neurocognitive disorders. These are very serious symptoms of mycotixicosis, mold poisoning.

The property manager, Tonya Hurt, responded to a work order to clean up the mess. Lawson said not enough was done and mold still remains. Now Hurt is saying that she didn’t know there was a mold problem and only now agrees it exists after seeing some photos. Sounds like a communication breakdown.

John Sanford, the property owner, says that Lawson is moving out because she is evicted. He also noted that residents are partially to blame for mold and should take responsibility by doing things like “wiping windows after they shower to prevent mold growth.”

This statement shows the owner’s ignorance regarding the issue. Lawson seems to have toxic mold growing in her apartment if not elsewhere in the apartment building. This kind of mold only grows due to a major and persistent leak (or sometimes improper building design). Shower steam alone is not enough to cause such a serious mold problem, yet the owner still believes his tenants are to blame.

So far, no one knows or has tried to discover the true source of this mold, which shows us how unprepared to deal with mold issues everyone is in this situation. The cause of the mold should be the first question asked here.

Tagged as: apartment building, apartment units, blurred vision, cognitive disorders, dizziness, gonzales louisiana, headaches, landlord, memory loss, mold, mold growth, mold poisoning, mold problem, toxic mold