I have renters who in the past three weeks have claimed mold, lead paint, and carbon monoxide. As to the lead paint and carbon monoxide, I am not too worried. The renters were provided with the lead paint disclosure form and pamphlet, and the fire department verified no carbon monoxide.
Here is the situation, prior to the family moving in, the home was inspected by the city building inspector and passed. The family then inspected the home before moving in. About a month and a half later, on their own, the renters chose to have a mold test completed by a licensed mold inspector. The inspector found visible surface mold and airborne mold in the basement on a partition wall where the drywall basically touches the basement floor. The renters told us that mold was found in the home but would not provide any specific information as they would not share the mold test results. They moved out of the home and began staying at a hotel. We asked the city building inspector to go back into the home and he found visible mold in the basement but said the home is still habitable. In the meantime, the renters then had a second test done and the mold inspector found airborne mold in the second story and first story of the home, no mold found on the couch with a surface test.
I am certain I am facing a lawsuit. As stated above, the renters moved out to a hotel about two weeks ago and have not paid rent for this month. They claim that they cannot take their personal belongings out of the home due to the mold. At this point they will no longer speak to me or respond to emails, etc. I have started the eviction process.
My contention is that the renters either caused or exasperated the problem by their own negligence. Their own inspector informed me that use of a dehumidifier would have likely avoided the problem. The renters are stating that the mold has to be remediated by a licensed professional, yet there is no law that states so. I am not necessarily against this but I don’t think that they get to dictate how this is handled. I’ve spoken to my lawyer, who has never dealt with this before. He is basically taking the wait and see approach. I am wondering if I should be on the offensive and filing a suit against them. Any advice?
Your local rental owners association probably has an arrangement whereby a member can get a pvt report as to whether a tenant or prospective tenant is a known criminal convictee or has a history of giving landlords trouble like this.
My state of WA has 2 or 3 rental ass’ns who do this for members at very low cost.
Also www.pacer.gov is an official US Gov website where you can for zero to very small cost learn of felony convictions, bankruptcies, etc
So you could find out from that ROA if your tenants have such a record w/o even talking to your tenants and I’d recommend your doing so at once.
And if you find something from those sources let your lawyer know now as it’ll influence any action he might recommend.
I like what you have done up to now. You’ve contacted a lawyer. Second, you’ve had another inspection by the city inspector. And third, you filed an eviction when they didn’t pay the rent.
I think, as your lawyer stated, you’re going to have to wait until the tenant takes some type of legal action. The appropriate lawsuit for you to file was the eviction.
But I think I would hire a hire an independent third party inspector of your own to inspect the place, so that you can add that to your city inspector’s information. And I would run the possibility of remediating the property by your lawyer. Certainly you’re probably going to want to do that anyway.
In my state, filing an unlawful detainer ends the tenants lease and precludes a continued tenancy whether they pay the rent at some point or not. This is where I would want to be with these tenants. Checking into their background certainly couldn’t hurt either.
I’d guess that lawsuit threats vs. actual suit filings are probably 1000:1 so I’d say find and read all your state’s Landlord Tenant law then move ahead to terminate that T’s rights in your house.
One thing that probably your state’s done in recent past is enact some T favoring law that prohibits your moving his “stuff” to the curb…and now likely requires the LL to move and store his junk before going further.
In recent years I’ve seen WA State move from LL friendly to totally T friendly and favoring today…I’ve even attended (our of curiosity) a WA State sponsored seminar teaching Ts how to avoid eviction and cause their LLs trouble.
The law that used to more or less favor LLs has shifted tremendously in recent years to the point of almost totally favoring the T today so all LLs need to read, know and follow their own state’s LL/T laws in order to avoid trouble with their states.