Mold found in rental home, How to proceed to properly cover myself

i searched and found a few mold related topics in the archives, so decided to make a new post.

short story:

moved into rental home in California, bathroom DOES NOT have a vent fan (which i thought was weird) 1990's construction

Oct 2011, move-in inspection notes cracks in shower and bath tub tile

Dec 2011 - noted to property management that cracks seem to be expanding and new cracks are showing up (most of the cracks starting from partition/glass between bath tub and shower)

Feb/March 2011 - property management sends out a contractor to inspect cracks in tile. contractor says that they are most likely from the foundation shifting and that the prop manager will probably opt to NOT fix the problem.

May 2011 - contractor calls and sets up appt to fix the tiles (surprised by this), he tears appart tiles and reveals:
1) some water leakage from ???
2) mold
3) more tiles/foundation that are starting to crack
4) question as to how far the leak/mold has spread

needless to say, more problems than what I/property management/contractor expected

what are some of the things/steps that i need to make sure i do to:
1) protect myself/family and my security deposit
2) make sure the problem is fixed in a TIMELY MANNER (as it stands right now we cant use bath/shower for a week, possibly longer if owner balks on paying for repair)

basically asking what savvy FWF members (renters/landlords/lawyers etc...) would do in my situation

If you can't use the shower for a week and it's your only shower I would ask to be put up in a hotel for the duration of construction. I don't think you need to do anything to protect your security deposit, as you did not cause the damage, and you notified the LL in a timely fashion.

07pilot4me said:   thankfully there is another shower in the house.

another general question:
should i ask the property manager to ammend the rental contract to reflect that there was mold/structure damage found in the bathroom?

If everybody agrees it wasn't caused by you and caused by the foundation shifting or builder defects, why would you?

How bad is the mold exactly? We talking a few black specks or is half the room covered in giant mushroom looking stuff? Sounds more like you've got a little mold under some tiles and thats not a giant deal.

Generally the health impact of mold comes in the form of allergic reaction and irritation :
http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldbasics.html
Avoid the mold infected area, keep the door to that bathroom closed. Honestly a little bit of mold is no big deal. Course I'm not your doctor and I don't know how bad the mold is, so if it makes you happy then stay with a friend or get a hotel room for a few days. If you want a hotel room then ask the landlord to pay for it. Thats a reasonable request IMHO.

I wouldn't worry about this impacting your security deposit. No reason for them to be charging you for any of this. If you want to be safe then keep records about all your communications on this.

The owner should not be balking at fixing it. If they do then you need to tell them in no uncertain terms that this needs to be fixed. Broken tiles with mold under them needs to be resolved. It may be a simple fix if the mold is not significant.

Cost of repairs like this should not be charged to a tenant or added to the rent. Its part of the cost of doing business for the landlord.

IF you had done something to damage the tiles and the landlord knew/suspected that then they might charge you for it in the security deposit. But from the sounds of it nobody involved is blaming you or has reason to blame you.

Thanks all for advice and reassurance. Will update thread as warranted

foghorn19 said:   07pilot4me said:   Thanks all for advice and reassurance. Will update thread as warranted

Get a qualified environmental testing professional to take air samples and find out how bad the mold level is. Talk to the doctor, esp for your kids, to see if the doc recommends anything. Getting the test done protects you because it is hard proof of the presence of mold. Pay for the testing yourself and get reimbursed from the LL later.

With all due respect, this sounds like you're going a little overboard. Mold exists in the environment that we're in and it's also airborne. There was a flurry of lawsuits about it before, but the last I heard, it was thrown out because there was no scientific evidence that mold caused any specific health problem. If you don't have any health problems, there's really not even anything to sue about. In my state, there' isn't even any certification for any kind of mold inspector. Anyone can just call themselves a mold inspector. If you did it, I wouldn't expect any reimbursement from the landlord.

henry33 said:   foghorn19 said:   07pilot4me said:   Thanks all for advice and reassurance. Will update thread as warranted

Get a qualified environmental testing professional to take air samples and find out how bad the mold level is. Talk to the doctor, esp for your kids, to see if the doc recommends anything. Getting the test done protects you because it is hard proof of the presence of mold. Pay for the testing yourself and get reimbursed from the LL later.

With all due respect, this sounds like you're going a little overboard. Mold exists in the environment that we're in and it's also airborne. There was a flurry of lawsuits about it before, but the last I heard, it was thrown out because there was no scientific evidence that mold caused any specific health problem. If you don't have any health problems, there's really not even anything to sue about. In my state, there' isn't even any certification for any kind of mold inspector. Anyone can just call themselves a mold inspector. If you did it, I wouldn't expect any reimbursement from the landlord.

FYI--mold inspector are licensed in many states. I would also think the landlord would want to hire a licensed mold inspector to determine whether or not the mold is toxic. If it is toxic, the mold inspector can provide a plan to remediate it. Not all mold is toxic

Beggars are not choosers. Go buy yourself a house. Sick of these loser tenants whining.

Do you clean bathrooms? You are not in a hilton where maid is supposed to come clean your crap.

king0fSpades said:   Beggars are not choosers. Go buy yourself a house. Sick of these loser tenants whining.

Do you clean bathrooms? You are not in a hilton where maid is supposed to come clean your crap.

Sick of lazy landlords who will not do simple things like add a fan in the bathroom to take care of their property then blame their tenants when something goes wrong.

Table83 said:   king0fSpades said:   Beggars are not choosers. Go buy yourself a house. Sick of these loser tenants whining.

Do you clean bathrooms? You are not in a hilton where maid is supposed to come clean your crap.

Sick of lazy landlords who will not do simple things like add a fan in the bathroom to take care of their property then blame their tenants when something goes wrong.

In all fairness, I dont think that mold under some cracked tiles would have been prevented with a bathroom vent fan. I suspect there's a more serious issue that's the source of any mold.
That being said. Adding a vent fan to a bathroom is a no brainer. I'm surprised there's not one in a rental in CA. They're building codes are much more progressive than most states.

Table83 said:   king0fSpades said:   Beggars are not choosers. Go buy yourself a house. Sick of these loser tenants whining.

Do you clean bathrooms? You are not in a hilton where maid is supposed to come clean your crap.

Sick of lazy landlords who will not do simple things like add a fan in the bathroom to take care of their property then blame their tenants when something goes wrong. Cool, so if fan present and mold present, tenant is to blame.

Jesus... Mold is usually not that big of a deal. I swear, we've all been trained to freak the F out about all these minor hazards (asbestos materials) so some ass-clown in a $2 tyvek "hazmat" suit can charge you $15,000 for what amounts to a few hundred dollars work...

Completely unscientific nonsense fueled by our litigious, fear based zeitgeist. Whenever you hear "one spore", "one fiber", "one exposure" get ready to pay out the nose.

OP: Call the landlord, no landlord wants their prop eaten away by moisture... He'll likely be in there tearing out the wall within a few days.