Heeeelp!! Tenant issues and mold

[Samantha Jee]

I'm not a professional landlord but we have a condo in LA that we rented out b/c we moved states due to a job. We've rented for 3 years with zero issues. 7 months ago we rented to a girl named Sandi and another girl named Lily. They were fine but i whenever i had to have someone go in there to fix something they resented it b/c they said they were busy professionals and didn't want to deal with any upkeep. so i decided to hire a property management company. i told them due to increases in tax and HOA, i needed to raise the rent $100 each. Sandi freaks out and writes long rambling emails about how there's dirt and mold that we've hidden from them from the start that she's just now discovering. I have no idea what she means as she's never mentioned this. We hire a property manager that weekend and within 3 days she's out there and decides a mold inspector needs to come. He comes within 2 days and with extensive tests find there are leaks from the shared pipes throughout the HOA and our place has detectable mold.

So he said its best if the girls move out since the mold seems throughout the unit. We have been paying for them to stay in hotels the last couple of weeks. We are trying to get the mold remediation company to go in there and fix this but the girls are freaking out that we are violating their privacy. Our PM insists the mold remediation company can go in with 24 hour notice so they will start the work Fri.

I have two issues. First, I am paying thousands for this remediation as well as for cleaning their personal possessions and the hotel. Is the HOA resposible for any of this? They said no. My PM thinks yes.

Second issue is that these girls are very hostile, not actively looking to move out it appears, and have mentioned suing us. Do they have a case? They literally never mentioned mold until 2 weeks ago, on a Saturday. By the following Tues (Monday was Pres Day) we had inspectors out there and are trying our best to fix this. I'm really stressed they will sue us for thousands and thousands. Any adivce? Anyone BTDT?