Mold problems in rental properties

[Marvin Tu]

Deal All, 

I would like to hear from investors who've had mold problem in their rental properties and the experience of remediating these problems. 

I have a family staying in one rental property for a little over five years now, and I had to go through two major mold remediation for them. One instance was caused by a small dripping on the compression valve behind the toilet on the second floor that was unnoticeable to the naked eye. Mold had grown on the ceiling space inside a closet on the first floor and the whole dry wall and part of the ceiling infected had to be ripped out and re mediated. The second instance was caused by a faulty fridge line that leaked through the fridge box and molded both side of the Sheetrock behind the fridge. The surrounding cabinets are also affected and have to be pulled out and cleaned. In both cases the mold remediation cost come close to 5k each, which is very expensive and eats up most of the rental income accumulate that year. 

What are some of the experiences you have gone through involving mold remediation? 

Do you also incurred huge expenses like I did? Did you seek compensation from the tenants? In my case I paid for both instances since it's not really their fault for negligence. I can't expect they to know the leak behind the fridge for example. However, I did followed up with them to keep an eye out for any leakage around the house and to notify me immediately! 

Potential Mold problems are definitely what I look for when I inspect my rental property routinely. I would hate to go through another one of those again.