Daughter has moved into a Mold infested apartment.

She has been there 8 weeks, & has been hospitalized 3 times. One for an infection that had to be surgically removed, Severe Bronchitis & finally Pneumonia.

No history of allergies- Other room mates have milder symptoms.

What steps do we have to go through to get him to FIX the leaks, & clean up the mold problem?

They sent a letter. No repsonse.
They sent another certified letter- No response.

There is evidence that this mold has been present in the past- & it has been attempted to be covered up.

Her health has diminished greatly as they wait for some response. They are very young & fear that they will be kicked out- & won't be approved for another apartment again.

I have paid for the place to be tested & it is very expensive for this & to be analyzed.

Suggestions? Help?

Send another letter with a conformation of delivery, stating that you will be contacting the Department of Buildings and Department of Health. Then send letters to these departments explaining the situation and how the landlord has not responded. However if these department do find the presence of mold or other spores they might condemn the apartment and she would have to move. Also most likely even if everything is eventually resolved the landlord might look for ways to evict your daughter and her roommates. Contacting these departments should give you a leg up on getting the landlord to have the mold cleaned up. Also you might want to contact the Department of Environmental Protection. Just in case though, I would keep my eyes open for an place.

Very simple.... You take the necessary steps to remove the mold and deduct it from the rent, as well as taking out an amount due to the apartment's being uninhabitable. Your landlord can either accept the situation or try to take you to court, which is a likely lose-lose situation for the landlord if intimidating you with the threat of court doesn't work -- just the way I see it and opinions may vary.

Another alternative -- leave the place as soon as possible. You may be able to recoup expenses for doctor bills and additional costs involved with regard to an unexpected move... This is called "constructive eviction" and if the place is uninhabitable, you need to leave and sue the landlord for his/her breach of the lease. If you stay, it is at your peril and it is as though you are saying it is able to be inhabited, which it isn't.

We have had the same problem with out landlord with mold and not fixing any thing and also coming into the apt without knocking when we are home. your daugter may be able to get a lawyer and be possible to sue for the mold. but make sure you get picuters,on video, and all the medical records to a lawyer. You can also have a city inspector come out and also take that to a lawyer.

my e-mail is bbyalex@hotmail.com if any questions

Remember that a lawyer costs money. If there is a problem with the mold calling the city is the first step. However, as is typical, the city isn't so quick to respond. It is usually easiest to send a letter to the landlord (certified) stating the need for the landlord to do something or else you will have to do it and will deduct the cost from the rent. You might wait an eternity for the city but perhaps they will come out quickly for an inspection... you never know.

Update

After getting her out of the hospital for the 4th time- The other room mates cornered the landlord & told him about the problem. He made an appointment to have an inspector come in. All the INSPECTOR was is a contractor. We showed him the problems. His solution was to seal all the mold in the wall, put in a vent fan, & wait to see what happens. So the landlord DID do this. He put in a vent fan that is so strong- that you can't close the door, the pressure is so strong. It sucks the toilet paper off the roll. LOL.

But when sprinkling the front lawn- The moisture came into the building & smelled so bad it nearly knocked you over.

We did take samples. They grew & (AUCK!) we are waiting for results.

My daughters health is NOT getting better. She just can't kick the pneumonia. They have her on MORE antibiotics & steroids. But nothing is helping.

We went to the city, who has no standards set up for such. They did send out an inspector, but he was more concerned about water meters, etc- more of the building violations type of thing. They did smell the mold- & they did see the samples.

The Illiniois dept. of public health said they would blow in a call to the landlord & tell him HOW to check for leaks in the walls. I could show him where the leaks are. On the outside foundation, there are cracks that have been sealed above the ground. the excess sealer was allowed to drip down on the ground. They obviously sealed the cracks from above the ground- but NOT below. These cracks are all along the side of the apartment that is where my daughters room is. Guess what room showed the worst mold growth ????

Since the mold growth is BEHIND the walls, In order for us to fix it ourselves- it would require us to remove all the drywall- find the leaks & fix them. It would MUCH more costly than what they pay in rent. Besides- once we open the walls up- we expose the healthy crop of mold that the walls cover. This would be dangerous.

At this point- we are starting to search for a lawyer. But we have NO $$. I am in debt paying the medical bills- & she hasn't been able to work. It's now to the point- where she has decided that she needs to get out of there- with NO other options for apartments, she is returning home. Heartbroken that she has to drop out of college, because she is so ill. All her $$ is tied up in the apartment.

What I would do (and it's up to you) is withhold rent and use the money for something else until you have to pay the rent! If the landlord dares to bring a proceeding, you can always pay back the "late" rent once the situation is remedied, offset (of course) by the costs/inconveniences you had as a result of the situation being left unattended. However, you MUST somehow show that you gave the landlord notice of the condition. You should send a certified letter to the landlord just to be sure.

The procedure described above is done typically in NY and I haven't seen a situation where a tenant was evicted due to a serious problem with the apartment and non-payment of rent. The situation can be cured, even in court. Laws and practice may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Well she is home with me now. She has dropped out of college & left a job, friends & school behind. I am working on getting her healthy again- the most important thing. I am trying to flush her system of all the fungus. Her room mates are all still there- Sick, but not as sick as her.

The landlord says- he see's no mold- therefore there is none. I have to resist the temptation to cut open the walls, Or to rip the locked door under the stairwell, where I smell the mustyness from when it rains. It about knocks you over! I have this want to PROVE that there is mold present, (other than the mold cultures) To be able to say SEE- There it is! There is the leak- & there is the mold. But if I do these things- I will only expose these kids to more of the dangerous toxins.

I have talked to the kids about with holding the rent $$- But they are terrified of being kicked out on their butts.

I have some names of lawyers that handle mold cases. I guess that is the only way. After hearing of other horror stories concerning mold calims- I feel that even a lawyer will not be able to get back what she has lost, the money I have to spend on medical bills, or the loss of her education. It won't give back her healthy lungs which are now considered asthamatic. It won't take away the scars on her breast after having to have a fungal infection surgically removed.

Sorry for the rant- but it is such a sad time for her. I wish it was me.

If you thought I was mad in that last post--- well I guess I am fuming now!

I just found out that the house right next to her apartment was completely gutted 6 months ago for MOLD problems. The landlord knew about this as the other tennents saw him talking to the workers. The dumpster that was used for the refuse from the house was stored at the end of my daughters driveway! The other tennents also told them that he knew that the foundation had cracks, as he was out there sealing the cracks from above the ground (but what about UNDER the ground level!!!!)

Here I thought he was just stupid- making me explain how mold grows.
Now I am MAD!!!
So what do you think? Do we have a case? Do Lawyers take these kind of cases on a continguency deal? We need help.

Also- Certified letters were sent, he claimed that he did NOT get them. He didn't know what we were talking about. HE knew of the health problems, he knew of our mold tests that we did. He kept denying it all. They were listed in the certified letters & they were told to him IN PERSON by me.

Here is her list of symptoms:

1 ) Cough
2 ) eye irritation
3 ) breast infection, requiring a 7 day stay at hospital, surgery & long term antibiotic use.
4 ) Shortness of breath
5 ) Tightness of chest
6 ) Diagnosis of Bronchitis
7 ) Nausia,
8 ) Stomach achs
9 ) vomiting
10 ) numbness of fingers
11 ) headachs
12 ) itchy spots on skin
13 ) extreme tiredness
14 ) lack of concentration
15 ) increase of seizure activity
16 ) Dizziness
17 ) Yeast infections
18 ) cronic sore throat
19 ) Fevers
20 ) night sweats
21 ) Lack of appetite
22 ) Diagnosis of pneumonia (which she has had for over 4 weeks!)
23 ) Blurring vision

She is in BAD shape. All the improvements that I can say have happened since she left the enviroment is that she hasn't thrown up. Which is a start.

Did you get back the return receipt for someone signing for the certified letters? If not, go to the post office and ask them to provide a copy of the record of the delivery.

If this is the case, you may want to see an injury lawyer, especially since you may have a landlord whose acts were intentional rather than just potentially negligent. Intentional acts typically carry a much higher penalty and you might even be able to get the city to act sooner and have them provide you with some of the evidence you might use at trial against the landlord in your civil case.