Consumption and Real Estate
Mold/Mouse problem.. enough to break lease? slumlord heartless harpy. help?
Question : Mold/Mouse problem.. enough to break lease? slumlord heartless harpy. help?
I opened a tiny crawl space/closet thing today in our new home and noticed a LOT of dirty almost greenish insulation hanging from the ceilings and around the walls. The dust (altho I didn’t see any, just smelt it) made my chest tighten and made me lose my breath for about 5 minutes. I’ve been sneezing a lot in and out of the home and was wondering if this could be mold? What would cause insulation to turn a limeish green (in some places deep green). We will be getting an at-home mold tester soon just to be sure.
Also, our landlord lied to us about having a mouse problem. After WE sealed up a ton of holes downstairs and complained to her, she still hasn’t dealt with the problem. She said (and I quote) “I’ll come around with a can of expanding foam to seal the holes around the house… but I dont want to hire our pest guy because he uses poison, and I don’t like that” and we haven’t seen or heard from her since.
We want OUT of this house, but can’t afford to lose our deposit. We’ve tried talking to her about it, even offered to sublease or find her next tenant before we leave. But she won’t budge. If the at-home test confirms mold.. are we free? Thanks.
Update: After I posted the question I went around the house and looked for more mold. I fould another crawl space in our living room with a lot of blackish maybe dark brown mold spots in the insulation.
Also, no kids (thank god – for their sake) and we actually got a cat when we realized we had mice.
And ty for the idea about keeping a ledger of complaints, dates and times. I will start doing that immediatly!
mold tester
Best answer:
Answer by ripcord_4523
these are very unsanitary conditions to live in. I really hope that you do not have any children in these conditions.
It really does seem like this would be enough to break the lease, BUT get plenty of evidence of these conditions (pics and video) as she will most likely try to take you to small claims court to retrieve the remaining balance of the lease.
Astro girl has mice and raccoons confused. Mice droppings are not fatal, you can get sick from raccoon droppings though.
I have never heard of anything, mold or otherwise that grows in the dark and turns green. There is a wood treatment that is green, or your insulation may be green. But mold has no chlorophyll, I do not think it can be green.
Both of the toxic molds are dark black, grow in total darkness (under the house is dark enough) and require wet, untreated wood to feed on. Neither would grow on the insulation. Mildew might, but even that would surprise me because mildew also requires a food source, and insulation is not it.
You can not break a lease due to mold unless you prove it is the toxic variety. This is an excuse every judge hears several times a day, and it will not mean anything unless you can prove the mold is toxic and the property needs to be condemned.
As far as mice, the landlord should be handling any outside and you inside. I am not big into poison either, more because I would worry about the cat finding it then the mice. You can buy poison dispensers that the cat and children can not get into for outside (1 will do) and it would not hurt to put some of the block kind in the crawlspace and ceiling space for indoor mice.