Moldy in the basement and tenant is not paying!

[Chad Keilen]

Hello all. Needing some help with a sfh in Decatur GA. The house has a finished basement and is rented out. My tenants informed me that they left town and when they came back they discovered mold growing on the carpet in an exterior corner of the house. I now have a contractor there remediating; repairing gutters, sealing concrete, cutting into walls, drying, etc. The tenants have full use of the upstairs and everything is sealed off well. And tenants are now 2 months behind on rent and I. Not sure how to proceed...

The tenants did inform me of this mid June. Literally one week earlier I was moving from GA to MI and no longer was able to react as quickly as I would have (and that move kinda rocked my world). Not an excuse but a fact. From the photo they sent me of the carpet, I truthfully thought it was caused by their neglect. Regardless, I had called my carpet guy to go over there and take a look at it. To repair as needed.

Several weeks had gone by before my tenant contacted me again asking for an update. I truthfully thought it had been taken care of and never thought any more of it. That's when I sent my contractor out there and it was a lot worse than I had thought. So now I am no longer getting paid, my basement is all torn up and still getting completed, tenants won't return my calls and I am concerned they might try to sue me for mishandling the situation or medical issues.

I had the tenants under contract 2020 and 2021 and when looking for the signed copy of the 2022 lease, I am not able to locate it so not 100% they ever signed a doc. I definitely prepared and sent them the lease anyway.

All this being said, am I best off sending them a certified 60 day lease termination and just try to end this? I do t want to necessarily want to hassle with eviction and don't believe they have the money to pay me (I filled the property March of 2020 and accepted less than ideal tenants, due to pandemic).

Any thoughts or clarity is greatly appreciated!

[Bruce Woodruff]

Legally, I believe they at least have to pay their rent $$ into an escrow type account...they can't just not pay. 

Having said that, you need to be careful and stay on top of this, no reasons/excuses will help you when you're standing in front of a judge. He/She will not care that you had to move.

Get it fixed 100% properly ASAP, and more importantly, put in place a system so this doesn't happen again. Basement rooms are usually problematic regarding mold/mildew. More ventilation, in-house filtration, or something of the like is probably needed....

Good luck....