Karen’s Story

I am a single parent who gave up a beautiful large apartment in another section of my city and moved into a upper middle class neighborhood closer to work, and rented a townhouse by the lake. The landlord when showing me the townhouse told me that when the homes were built, they installed sump pumps in the basements due to the homes being built below the water level, and thus living by the lake. He also told me to keep the cold storage room door closed and not put anything in the room.

The basement had a very musty smell but I didn’t think anything more of it, and being naive, I never questioned him. After moving in and settling down, and spending a lot of money painting, I found to my horror that green/black mold was growing all over the cement walls and ceiling of the cold storage room. I called the landlord and asked him to fix the problem. He came in and used bleach and then painted the room white. Well, it kept growing back and then I realized it was all over my blinds, my doors, and my appliances. I also noticed a white powdery substance on the base boards. So, I bleached everything down again , and shut the cold storage room door, sealing all the cracks.

My neighbors did so as well. I now have a nightmare on my hands. Everything in my house has been contaminated. It was even inside sealed plastic storage containers – holding very expensive items, and I have found black mold spots inside my freezer door. The back of my freezer wall has a dark grey shadowy appearance.

When I spoke again to my landlord and formally requested he deal with the problem. My nose has sores inside and they bleed as I sneeze and blow my nose, my son’s allergies have been very bad as well. My landlord’s response to my request to fix the problem: he said – NO, I will let you out of your lease if you give me a 60 day notice. I have now called the local Health Authorities who are scheduled to do an inspection. Although there are no visable signs of my furniture being damaged my new air conditioner is full of black fuzz.

I will be taking a lot of pictures of the problem, and seeking an attorney over this matter as the loss of all my belongings is overwhelming. The sight of my cold storage room area looks like a forest of black moss. This is a case of a landlord deceiving tenants and charging very reasonable rent to attract people to rent his moldy premises in a very well to do neighborhood.

Author: Carolyn Willbanks