Every so often, I get a call from a friend of a friend who needs advice about a mold problem in their rental building. Here in Chicago, it’s a common story since most people rent. Unfortunately, my most practical advice is not the magic solution they want to hear.
The names change but the story is always the same. The tenant finds a dark, greenish substance growing in their building that they think is mold. They are worried about developing health problems and have noticed allergenic or asthmatic symptoms already. They tell their landlord and are met with lack of concern and are given no sympathy to the matter. The landlord denies there is a serious problem and refuses to act.
At this point, you should address your landlords concerns. Mold removal is often expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Your landlord may not be aware of the effective and inexpensive mold removal products that have just been introduced in the last few years. Search for enzyme-based, all-natural mold removal products and inform your landlord about these. At least make an attempt to educate them, but don’t be surprised if you are met with a cold shoulder.
Be warned, the landlord may simply paint over the mold. Painting over mold does nothing to help the situation and, in fact, makes it worse because of the water component in paint. Painting the mold is not an attempt to clean it, but to hide it from you and future tenants.
This is what I call a “bad guy move.” By painting mold, your landlord is using deception to save money while harming his tenants. This is a red flag. By using paint to hide the mold, your landlord has revealed himself to be a “bad guy” who only has his own interests in mind. You should now handle any future interactions you have knowing that you are dealing with a bad guy. And, regardless of the mold, you don’t want to keep living there because renting from bad guys will be no good in any future situations or conflicts with the apartment.
So, you have identified that you have a mold problem and you have a bad guy, now what? Many people want to sue – but I wouldn’t recommend this. You probably have heard about mold victims winning outrageous amounts of money in lawsuits. But they only won this much because they developed permanent health problems. They were ignorant of the fact that mold can cause devastating health effects and continued to stay in moldy buildings. Since you’re reading this, you don’t have the same excuse.
Even if your pursuit for justice is noble, mold litigation takes years of painful court battles before any justice can be handed down on the bad guys. I don’t want to see bad guys get away, but life is too short to fight these battles. It just isn’t practical. In the end, I have to tell my friends to let that fight go.
What you should do is just leave the building. You can probably get out of your lease by citing Consumer Protection Laws in your state. Let your landlord know of your intent to vacate and let the next tenant deal with the mold. It’s sad, it’s certainly unfair, but it’s the best practical advice I can give.
Email This Post
Print This Post
You must log in to post a comment.