All Forum Posts by: Bruce Chang

Tenants are playing the mold card and trying to scare us into paying for hotel fees, clothing, mattresses, furniture, etc. And now veiled threats that they will notify other tenants in the building that there is a mold issue.  We think that these tenants have played the game before.  In fact, we  found a very similar thread on Biggerpockets posted a few years ago with tenants using the same tactics.  We tried to reach out to the landlord, but they have not posted on Biggerpockets in a long time.  Is this something that we could report to law enforcement?

I recently had a mold investigator take air samples from some bedrooms a tenant was complaining about.  The results showed that there was an elevated presence of allergenic molds. No black molds.  The levels that were reported were not extremely high.  In fact, you probably see a higher count outside during allergy season.  The mold investigator is now recommending that we air test every single room in the house including the HVAC.   From all the research I've been doing, the CDC, EPA, and others do not recommend air testing.   Is it normal to take an air sample from every room?

The mold investigator is also recommending professional remediation of all the bedrooms.   This mean ripping out carpet, baseboards, and possible wall removal. Cleaning all contents at professional remediator's facilities. I assume that if the other tests come out positive, the same approach would apply which would mean the entire house would be remediated.

This seems very excessive to me as the only visible mold is on the windows (glass, sills, frames) of the house.  The tenant is playing the sick card. First , they reported a friend that stayed with them got sick.  Now, they claim that their family was sick.

The mold investigator does make most of his money from taking air samples. He charges $100 a sample in addition to $200 for travel time.   The report he provided was not useful as he did not identify the source of the problem.  For his work, we are now out about $1100.  Since I was suspicious of his recommendations, I decided to call another mold investigator my contractor recommended.  They told me that one air sample is good for 500 square feet.  I also forwarded them the result of the air tests, and they also agreed that the recommendations were excessive for the level of spore counts on the reports.

So, for those of you who have had to deal with mold problems, am I getting scammed?  I feel like this is a big set up from the mold investigator as he knows we have a potential liability with the tenants, and I feel like he is holding us hostage with his recommendations.  Of course, he has a list of contractors he would like us to work with.

Our family owns a 100 year old building. The tenant complained of mold so we had a mold inspector come in and the counts are high in the bedrooms.  Tenant has been there for many decades, and is a slob.   The inspector is recommending mold remediation in the bedrooms.  There is visible mold on the window sills and frames. Sills are also caked with dust.  No visible mold on walls.  Now he is recommending that we also air test the rest of the house.  I know that the epa says that if visible mold growth is present, sampling is unnecessary.  Do we need to do more air testing?  I'm just concerned that we are opening up another can of worms as it is more than likely that it will be high in other parts of the house as I suspect the wall-to-wall carpet is contributing to the high counts.  I don't see the point in doing it, if we are more than likely going to rip it all out anyway.

Hello,

I need help with a tenant situation.  The tenant is complaining about mold and that she has many allergies.  We had a mold inspector come out, and we haven't gotten the report yet.  Mold inspector said most of the problem is housekeeping  that he could see, and that there are no water leaks in the house.  Most of the visible mildew/mold is around the window sills along with a thick accumulation of dust.   I assume if the report is clean, we'll probably just need a few humidifiers in the house.   He mentioned that an air purifier would help with allergies.   Regardless, if the tenant is complaining about allergies, do we need to provide her with a hepa filter air purifier because I know she will likely try and make us pay for everything recommended.