Mold and harassment for landlord

[Preston Newman]

Hello everyone. Any help with our issues would be greatly appreciated as this issue has greatly stressed me and my wife. 

In March I got blood results back indicating higher than normal mold levels in my blood.

On April 5th visible mold was found in our apartment. Property manager and owner were contacted and notified of the mold. They told me and my wife that starting April 5th we would be reimburses our daily pro rated rent of $76 a day until the issue was fixed. This not being nearly enough to cover hotel in our area so we moved out of the bedroom with mold and slept on the floor in second bedroom to avoid further exposure and kept that room closed which we also explained to the owner. Mold testing was done to confirm mold in multiple areas and was scheduled to be remediate in May after some convincing to the owner. So for a month we slept on the floor in other room and could not fully use our apartment. 

April 30th we sent an email confirming that since they told us we would be reimbursed from April 5th until repairs are completed that we would be deducting April 5-April 30th pro rated rate amount from May rent which would equal to us paying $306 on May 1st and any deduction for May would be deducted on June rent. No response back and check for $306 was dropped off.

May 10th in the middle of mold remediation. Apartment sealed and owner knows we are in an hotel they decide to post a “3 Day Pay or Quit” on apartment door of our vacant unit. They requested full rent for May.  All of this with zero communication. Luckily my wife had one check on her. We paid full rent for May and eventually first check was mailed back to us after multiple requests to be informed on what is happening. It took over a week of emails to get any answers but eventually the owner then sent us a check to reimburse us for part of May rent which equaled to us paying $306 for May.  They continued to delay work and harass until finally we realized there is no way we can live in the complex and gave a 30 day notice and moved. 

Landlord continued to refuse to reimburse us for the time from April 5- May 5th since we slept on the floor in the other room. She would also not discuss why she changed her word and failed to communicate to us but instead hire a lawyer to try to get us out. 

Landlord has history and trying to bully people and take advantage of tenants. We have moved and feel we are owed the money from April to May as we should be paying rent for a until we can’t fully use without it affecting our health. We are planning to take them to small claims court to collect the rent we tried to deduct and also for harassment against us. Any suggestions of how we should move forward? How abnormal is it for a landlord to act in this manner? To us everything felt extremely dishonest and sneaky when we tried to communicate clearly the entire time until they went silent and changed the approach.

[Kevin Enderle]

I have 20 years as a Mold mitigation specialist. When somebody tells me they have a result of "mold in the blood", it sent off red flags galore. That is usually a 'test' done by a naturopath looking to sell you something. If you have mold in your blood you are either A) Already Dead or B) In the hospital on serious anti fungal medication. Thing is, those tests are ALWAYS positive (surprise surprise) as you are constantly being exposed to mold in the environment. Step outside into a pristine Island Environment 5000 miles away from civilization never before touched by Man...you are breathing mold spores in. Middle of the city with nothing but concrete and not a single shred of plant life for miles...mold spores. Mold is ubiquitous in the environment and your immune system is designed to deal with exposure. That is not to say excessive indoor air mold cannot make you sick...it absolutely can. But "mold in the blood" is a scam, typically followed by "Detoxification Treatments".