All Forum Posts by: Hannah Spirrison

Thanks for the advice! Asking a handyman to check out the ceiling is a good idea. Just to clarify though -- "the spot" is not visible or wet/soft to the touch (in my opinion) -- it's just an area that he claimed was damp.

I rent out a townhouse in Florida. The house is in great condition, and the tenant has been there over a year and pays on time and is well-organized, neat. She just started dating a home inspector, and he hypothesizes that there is mold in the townhome. He pointed to a "wet" spot on the ceiling; however, we touched the spot where he said it was damp and couldn't feel anything. He also pointed to a thin black ring around the base of the toilet. I've seen this a lot of times on various toilets. The house doesn't smell musty or have any other obvious signs of mold or water intrusion. Personally, I think that they are overreacting and that there is not a mold problem.

However, I got quotes for a full mold check from local companies and with all the lab fees, etc., it adds up to about $400. I think the tenant will split the cost. My concern is -- if the test does come back positive for some type of mold, what are the legal implications? We would have to disclose this if we ever want to sell the townhouse, right?

Can we legally say no -- we will not do a mold test even though the tenant requested it? If we didn't do the test, I'm pretty sure that the tenant would elect to move out, but I'm confident that we could find another tenant fairly quickly.

Thanks!