Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

[Kee Lee]

Hi If anyone can give some advice

About 8 months ago in June 2023, tenant complained of water leakage in one of the rooms, I sent my handyman to take a look and looks like the HVAC air filter was completely blocked, it caused alot of water to leak onto the floor.  At the time the tenants wanted compensation for many shoes and much clothes that was on the floor and have been damaged.  I told them I can't claim it through insurance since it was due to the fact they (the tenant) didn't replace the air filter.  I did have the handy guy clean and dry off the area on two or three separate occasions.

Moving forward to two weeks ago, they are complaining of mold and now sickness, I hired a property manager to deal with this.  He hired a mold remediation company and looks like there is significant amount of mold and the cost estimate to remediate is coming to 12k.  Also looks like the tenant wants in the range of 10k for compensation.  So hence the question is do I call my insurance company or handle it privately?

Thx

KJ

[Greg M.]

Spend a couple hundred dollars and have an attorney draft a f*** off letter. 

Dear Tenant:

As you are aware, the water leak was directly caused by your failure to change the air filter. It is your responsibility to change the air filter to prevent this from occurring (see Lease, page 3, paragraph 2). 

Your negligence in failure to change the air filter has directly caused me to incur significant expenses. Not only did I have to hire someone to diagnose and remedy the cause of the leak, as well as dry the affected area, but I am now facing a $12,000 expense to remediate the mold your negligence caused.

Due to your negligence causing these large expenses, it is necessary for me to file a claim with your renters insurance policy. If you also have losses that you feel may be covered under your renters insurance policy, I suggest you do the same. However, I bear no responsibility for your damages as they were directly caused by your negligent actions.

Sincerely,

Landlord

PS: Your rent will be going up due to this!!