Mold grows in damp areas of properties and quickly spreads. Unfortunately, exposure to mold can lead to serious health issues. You could identify mold by the spores that usually appear in damp areas, like bathroom ceilings, near windows, and damp basements, for example. This typically comes with a specific smell (which can be musty). The mold spores can be either black or white in color and are airborne – meaning that they can travel from room to room spreading the mold even further. Because mold spores are airborne, they can easily enter the respiratory system, creating a number of health issues, including but not limited to the following: dizziness; lack of energy; headaches; coughing; runny or watery eyes; rashes; difficulty breathing (and other respiratory problems); asthma; hemorrhaging; etc.

Mold is often a sign of other issues on the property, which could include leaks in plumbing, in the ceiling, or even in appliances. In many cases, water damage in a home can also mean that there is mold present. In fact, mold can often be found in places where water damage exists, like behind washing machines, refrigerators, near windows, behind curtains, etc.

What if there’s mold in your rental home? Your landlord should have addressed all issues, including mold issues, prior to you moving into the property. Unfortunately, this does not always happen. Regardless, your landlord should quickly address the situation – he or she must hire professionals to address the mold and potentially provide you with other living accommodations while the mold is being removed from the property. Can you remove the mold by yourself? Although it might seem easy enough to wipe mold away from a surface, doing so is not recommended

Although landlords definitely have a duty to keep their rental properties free of any mold and habitable, in general, they might not be responsible under some circumstances. That is, landlords might not be liable if the mold was caused by the actions of the tenant or if the landlord was completely unaware of the presence of the mold. If you are unsure of whether your landlord could be found accountable, contact our experts immediately.

If your landlord breached the warranty of habitability and failed to keep the rental property free of mold (and, of course, was aware of the issue), then the landlord could be held responsible – for the uninhabitable conditions and for any harm occurring as a direct result of the uninhabitable conditions. What does this mean? This means that affected tenants could sue their landlords. You could sue your landlord for medical expenses, lost income, mental and emotional harm, and more. You could even sue for any financial burden that you faced after having to relocate to get away from the mold, for example. For more information about the legal options available to you against your landlord for the failure to remediate mold, do not hesitate to contact our experts immediately.

As briefly mentioned above, you could have grounds to sue the landlord for medical expenses, lost income, mental and emotional distress, and more. Depending on the details surrounding your specific claim, you could be entitled to compensation for everything mentioned above, as well as property damage, punitive damage, and legal fees. For more information about the specific value of your lawsuit for the failure to remediate mold from your rental home, do not hesitate to contact our experts as soon as possible. Our lawyers are ready to help you sue and recover the highest payout available.