Mold problem

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Hey I am new here so I hope this is the right place for this. Anyways I am a student who is renting a house with 4 other roommates on individual leases. We soon noticed that mold would grow along the windows, didn't think much of it and just cleaned it. We all started to get sick, with coughs, nose bleeds, headaches, sinus and ear infections. This went on for several months while we attributed it to our stress from school/late nights/etc. after I started to have trouble breathing, I started to do research. We pulled out our furniture and found a significant amount of mold growing on the walls/trim along the floor, and on the floor several inches out from each wall. This is along the walls with windows. Personal belongings we stored under our beds were covered with mold. The mold is black with a green tint to it. It grows in several circles/spots. It looks moist and smells bad.

We contacted our land lord and were told that it could possibly be our fault from letting the house get too humid?? He cleaned mold out of our bathroom fans and gave us cleaning supplies. The next day we were itchy after showering and felt sick, like wanted to vomit. So we left the house and are staying with friends.

I'm positive we have a mold problem, I just don't know where to go from here. We are taking summer classes and need a safe place to stay, but being students, we don't have money to move/fees for changing cabel/utilities/etc.

what should we do? Should we pay rent/ just move out/etc. Thanks!

[Bjorn Miller]

Good Morning,

There are several different types of mold and disturbing any will release their spores into the air, possibly causing upper respiratory problems. Clearly based on your picture this problem did not happen over night. With that said, what does your lease state in terms of keeping the property clean and tidy and/or sanitary? If the source of the water is coming from the exterior or the tenants on the floor above then the landlord needs to get a contractor to the property to inspect and fix the cause.

The bottom line, nobody should live in a property with mold-especially in the quantity you showed. The tenants should respect the property and maintain it to prevent this from happening just as the landlord should act promptly to eliminate this issue if the source is outside the control of the tenants. Best of luck.

Bjorn