Mold and Tenant Rights

Mold and its associated health risks are a concern for renters everywhere. Tenants and landlords share responsibility for controlling mold to ensure healthy living conditions. Renters expect landlords to provide homes free of mold caused by leaky roofs and windows, faulty water pipes and contaminated heating and air-conditioning ducts. Landlords, in turn, count on renters to maintain their units free of spills and to keep their kitchen and bathroom surfaces clean and dry.

Molds reproduce through spores that are invisible to the naked eye. They float in the air and land on damp surfaces, where they begin to grow. California’s natural humid climate is ideal for molds to grow on walls, fabrics, furniture, cardboard boxes and paper products. Mold can be black, white, green or gray and is known by its various scientific names: stachybotrys, penicillum, aspergilus, paecilomyces and fusarium. Many molds can be seen while others grow undetected in attics, basements, behind walls, air ducts and in other hidden areas.

While many people aren’t adversely affected by molds, you may not be so lucky if you’re elderly or a high-risk individual with asthma or a compromised immune system. After breathing in or touching the mold’s mycotoxins, or toxic substances, you could experience any number of allergic reactions, including sneezing, a runny nose, red eyes, dermatitis, asthma attacks or possibly something more serious.

During humid summer months, run your air conditioner to lower the indoor humidity that would otherwise help mold grow. Also check the air conditioner’s condensation pipe, which is known to spill its condensate onto the basement floor, where mold can also grow. Prevent mold from establishing itself in your kitchen and your bathrooms by regularly wiping surface areas with a weak bleach solution or with an anti-fungal product. If you fail to remove any mold that is caused by your neglect, you risk being held financially responsible for any damage caused by the mold.

Landlords must legally maintain their rentals in habitable conditions. This includes repairing leaky roofs, windows and pipes, for example, as well as waterproofing basements and crawlspaces where mold can grow. A landlord’s failure to remove mold can cause him legal difficulties, including condemnation of the property if it tests positive for unhealthy mold levels.

Although there aren’t any federal statutes that specify permissible exposure limits to mold, a number of states have enacted legislation to address the matter. California was the first state to pass toxic mold legislation in 2001, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2002. The Toxic Mold Protection Act was codified under the California Health and Safety Code and the California Civil Code. It authorized the state Department of Health Services to set permissible exposure limits for toxic molds and determine remediation standards for those molds. It also requires landlords who know that mold is growing in their rentals to notify their tenants accordingly.

If mold is the landlord’s responsibility, send her a registered letter explaining the problem. If after a reasonable amount of time she’s failed to respond and you’re concerned about your health, consider contacting the local health department. San Francisco housing officials look on mold as a legal nuisance on the same level as trash accumulation or vermin infestation. Your landlord can therefore be sued if she fails to clean up the mold.