TLDR; We've lived in this rental property for 2 years, and are beginning to suspect there are some issues with mold. Pin holes leaks in pipes, and persistent respiratory issues for our entire family, make us wonder if it's better just to move on, than try to get the landlord to help investigate/remediate the issue. What would you do?
My wife and I are coming up to the end of a two year lease on a property in Northern Virginia -- as we've been here, we've noticed that our kids have had persistent respiratory issues -- particularly our 10 month old son, who we took to the emergency room at 4 months old, with respiratory issues (we didn't think to check for mold at the time).
As we've been in the house, the owner (who regularly cut out the property management company he had been working with), has mentioned that when he lived in the house, he had noticed 'pin hole leaks' in some of the pipes.. and when we pointed out a 1 inch diameter 'soft-spot' in the kitchen ceiling, he chalked it up to that. There was a significant leak that developed in the basement laundry room -- he initially blamed us, but later, discovered it was another 'pin-hole leak' from a copper pipe (which filled up a 5 gallon bucket I placed under it, in about a day).
Just last week, we notice that the 'soft-spot' had doubled in size -- and when the repair-man came out to "repair" it (by putting electrical tape around the pipe?? -- the water was beading up through the tape even just an hour after the repairman left), we got a good look at the rest of the space around the pipes... and saw the images that I'm attaching below -- at least two more *visible* 'pinhole leaks' on the copper pipes above the kitchen ceiling, and some wet spots, along with what looks like a dark colored mold/mildew.
My wife and I are a little concerned that the 'pin-hole leak' problem is going to persist, and may already be more widespread than we know... and the relatively relaxed posture our land-lord has maintained is additionally worrisome.
If you were thinking about purchasing a house like this, and your inspection uncovered these issues, how would you account for it in your offer? Would you stay away from the property? What course of action would you take?
If you had tenants in the property when this came to your attention, how would you go about working it out?
We've sent these pictures over to our landlord, and explained some of our concerns, and asked to meet with him to discuss how he planned to protect his investment in the home, and what that would look like for us, should we mutually agree to extend the lease for another 12 months. He's been fairly responsive on a few matters (removed a tree with several dead limbs hanging over the yard and house), but I'm a little worried that he's not sure how to handle mold and/or problems with pin-hole leaks in copper plumbing.
Some other potentially helpful context data points: when we first moved in, there was a German cockroach infestation behind/under the fridge. We used gel baits, IGR (insect growth regulators), diatomaceous earth, and boric acid to get rid of them -- haven't seen any more of them in more than a year -- not sure how long they had been there. Landlord promised to re-imburse us for the costs, since we both agreed the problem pre-dated our moving in -- but no reimbursement ever came. Whenever we have reported an issue to the property management company that he used, he would cut them out of the conversation, and insist on using his own handyman, etc. As of this past week, he gave that property management company notice that he would not be using their services after the termination of this lease.
We want to help him keep his property in good shape, but are a little worried that there are serious health risks involved for our family if we stick around, without some serious efforts at remediation.
