Is there a lawyer knowledgable in landlord tenant laws on answers? The actual question is in the 3rd paragraph. Here’s background info: State: VA Situation: A few months ago, we reported to our property manager that there was mold growing in small areas all over the house on the ceiling. Black mold. We also reported green mold in one of the kitchen cupboards. They had a contractor out who sprayed the mold with a chemical I don’t remember. It wasn’t bleach, but it was suppose to "kill the mold and possibly prevent its return."
A couple months later, you guessed it, the mold is back, and getting worse by the day. We alerted the property manager and a few days later, the contractor was out again. This time, he looked in the crawl space under the house and the crawl space above the house. He found next to no insulation in the attic and a pipe that had a huge leak under the house. They plan on painting over the mold in the cabinet(yes, that came back) with a mold killing paint. I read on blackmold.awardspace that that should kill of the mold because the wooden cabinet was painted before the mold grew(as far as we know), so painting over it with a paint that seals of oxygen will kill the green mold.
I’ve gone through our lease and repairs and maintenance(although mold is never mentioned) is covered by the realty company.
That’s just fine, but my current issue is this: The property manager(claims to have 15 years of being a house inspector experience) has instructed us(the tenants) to use a 20% bleach and water mixture to clean the black mold on the ceiling. 1. As the mold was not caused my tenant negligence, it is not our responsibility to clean the mold right? I estimate this would take us at least 3 hours and we don’t have a way to reach the ceiling(chairs aren’t tall enough, don’t own a ladder). I know if we go buy a ladder and take the receipt to the manager, we’ll get reimbursed, but am I also correct in thinking that we are owed compensation for the time if we decided to take it upon ourselves to do the job? I read on http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=22462661 about a tenant who was paid minimum wage for doing his dishes because his dishwasher was broken and the landlord didn’t want it fixed. 2. Anyone know this case so I can reference it? 3. Know a tenant union or housing authority near Hampton Roads? 4. Any other advice?
Sorry for the long read and thanks for your time.
CORRECTION: My questions(yes, there’s multiple questions) now lie in the last paragraph.
Spoke with the rental company, they will be having the maid who cleans their properties out to clean the mold off the ceiling. However, they want to use bleach(20% bleach 80% water). The property manager wants the entire ceiling bleached(roughly 1100 sq ft), and also want us to cover our property with plastic so nothing gets bleached. They expected us to provide plastic, cover all our stuff ourselves, and to be vacant from the house(its a single family home) for a whole day. Well, that wasn’t going to work. If they want it cleaned with bleach, they can pay the maid to cover all my stuff with plastic they provide. If it’s not safe do be in the home, I expect a hotel/motel room provided for the duration of the temporary vacancy. The mold wasn’t due to tenant negligence, so it’s their responsibility to clean the property of the mold and all that that entails(protecting my property). I provided them a website(blackmold.awardspace.com) that lists other cleaners to
use against mold.
Like I said, I’m not spending 3 hours of my time doing their job unless they want to pay me. It doesn’t say anything about maid services in my lease, but it does say the house must be safe and habitable(hence they clean the mold and provide a hotel if the home is inhabitable for even a day). I’m sure the mold isn’t dangerous, but it is still nasty to have on a ceiling I’m paying $995 to look at. They haven’t gotten back to me since I gave them the web site. I’ll be calling them tomorrow and will not be doing business with this company again. I’d like to say thanks again for everyone’s time, sorry to vent. None of the answers stand out, so I’ll put it to a vote.
I am not a lawyer. But not an idiot either.
"black mold" would not grow on your ceiling. It requires raw, untreated wood, dampness and COMPLETE darkness.
Normally basic instructions on how to clean a house are not included in a lease. 1% bleach is enough to kill both mold and mildew (you have mildew). You are right, you do not have to clean this if you do not want to, however, unless maid service is part of your lease no one else will clean it either.
And no, the apartment will not reimburse you for a ladder. If you want a ladder you buy a ladder. Who doesn’t have a ladder?
You are not legally entitled to pay for cleaning your own house. I have never heard of a case where you were paid for basic cleaning, even that article you reference does not talk about cleaning, it talks about a dishwasher in the contract. If your contract states that the landlord cleans your apartment then yes, you could enforce that. If has to be in the contract though.