I may have to sue

[Sephiroth]

So I better call Stephen P New. In all seriousness, I’m trying not to get panicky. But I have reason to believe I’ve been exposed to mold in my apartment. I’ve had pneumonia three times in the past two years. I purchased mold test kits, Petrie dishes that you leave open to the air for an hour, then seal and let sit for several days. There is definitely something growing in them, sent them to a lab to be analyzed. Just over the weekend I discovered a water stain on the ceiling in one of the closets. I’ve been contacted by a former resident who claims to be in the midst of building a class action suit against the owners of the complex. Outside of the concerns for my health, I’ve never been in a situation where I needed to take legal action. It’s scary on multiple fronts.

[Spiderf 4]

OK damn, yeah, call someone. It's a health and safety issue that your landlord is legally required to take care of. Not quite sure who you would call when a landlord fails to do that (the city? the EPA? some other specific agency? one of those TV judge shows?) but I'm sure a trip to Google would tell you. Either way, call them ASAP, get this thing fixed quickly. (Especially since it's very likely other tenants are suffering from similar stuff.)

[Denny Zen is Cooking™]

Also, talk to all of your neighbors and see if they have experienced similar issues/have noticed water leaks, and read through your Lease and note anything that would make it the landlord's exclusive responsibility to repair leaks. These lawsuits can be extremely tough to win. Most places (assuming you're in the US), you are responsible for everything within the four walls of your apartment as the tenant, and the landlord is only responsible for "common areas" that are retained within their exclusive control. Something like a roof leak affecting the entire building would be the landlord's responsibility, but you'll want to make sure you have it well documented that this wasn't something you could have just "identified and fixed yourself."

Hope you stay well, and your health is not negatively affected. Mold is scary stuff.

[gerbilfacedgeek]

You beat me to the Stephen P. New bit.

Seriously hope all goes well for you.

[Toilet Paper Roll]

At home mold kits are crap, sadly it would likely have to be looked at by a professional, and if the landlord wishes to fight it it’d have to be looked at by another professional and then you’d need to go to court and prove you were harmed and that the landlord willingly knew of the conditions.

Again this is if they decide to actually fight it.

Mood and mildew are entirely preventable and usually easily remediated if caught early enough:

Best of luck I hope it all works out

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Lol, I knew I wasn’t the only Cornette listener here.

[Big BosskMan]

Aug 26, 2024 8:35:53 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

So I better call Stephen P New. In all seriousness, I’m trying not to get panicky. But I have reason to believe I’ve been exposed to mold in my apartment. I’ve had pneumonia three times in the past two years. I purchased mold test kits, Petrie dishes that you leave open to the air for an hour, then seal and let sit for several days. There is definitely something growing in them, sent them to a lab to be analyzed. Just over the weekend I discovered a water stain on the ceiling in one of the closets. I’ve been contacted by a former resident who claims to be in the midst of building a class action suit against the owners of the complex. Outside of the concerns for my health, I’ve never been in a situation where I needed to take legal action. It’s scary on multiple fronts.

If you need to litigate your landlord, you need someone who'll have temerity for your rights as a tenant and make your mold problem melt away, you need the barrister of Beckley, the one and only Stephen P. New.

ba-da-ba-dum, ba-da-ba-dum, ba-da-ba-dum, ba-da-ba-dum, ba-da-ba-dum...

[Sephiroth]

I’ve lived here 12 years next month. In that time there have been three incidents of water leakage, all were in the bathroom. One such time they actually had to go into the ceiling. They did not do any kind of treatment to prevent mold, beyond spraying some bleach. You can visibly see where they repainted. On another occasion there actually was mold growing in a closet. They wiped it off, sprayed bleach, and repainted.

They turn the boilers off in April and turn them back on in October. I don’t know the state of the boiler, but the paint above the baseboards has visible burn marks from them firing it back on every season.

In the time I’ve lived here, I’ve had pneumonia four times. The first was seven years ago. The second, two years ago. The third and fourth just months apart from each other, this past May and at the start of August. Two years ago, I suffered a stroke and do believe my immune system took a hit, so I am more susceptible to illness.

I’d prefer it not be the case, but it’s all feeling like it fits a pattern.