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Renting Townhouse with Mold

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dmckeown

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL

I recently (Aug 2010) rented a townhouse. My 11 year old daughter started getting very sick. She has had asthma since she was little, however, it has been controlled for the last few years. She has an emergency inhaler and a nebulizer machine (that she hadn't used in 2 years). Since moving into this townhouse, she started being sick constantly. Fevers, asthma, wheezing, strep throat twice, croup coughing, body aches, all to name a few. I started noticing that she felt better if she was outside or at someone else's house. If she was in our home for a long period of time, she was wheezing and having breathing problems by the end of the night. She's been using her nebulizer almost nightly. She saw the doctor 7 times in a 5 week span.

Last month, we found a leak in a closet ceiling downstairs right in the living area that was growing mold. It was the upstairs bathtub leaking. The landlord said he "sealed" it by paining a sealer over it and fixed the tub. However, my daughters symptoms are still bad. 2 at-home mold tests came back positive but the LL states that those are no good.

I also found out from other tenants that the crawlspace that runs under our townhouses and also where the furnace entries are has flooded multiple times. The LL however insists that this is dry. He decided that my solution is to give me a thicker furnace filter. When doing this, he stated that he found that the condenser system is leaking and probably leaked all summer. However, he stated "I doubt that it produced a bucket of mold."

Even after replacing the filters, etc, my daughter is still continuing to get sick. My LL is offering to move us to another townhouse 2 doors down. However, I'm afriad that if the problem is in the crawspace, then I will have the same problem 2 doors down. I haven't noticed issues myself other than more frequent headaches. He states that he "knows" that unit is dry and then he could just get someone else into our unit that "isn't as sensitive".

What are my rights here? I was told that there are no laws requiring LL to fix mold but do I have a right to ask to get out of my lease after 3 months???

Thanks
Dawn

PS I also wanted to add that I wanted to have a professional come in and test and I was even willing to pay for it but I was told that the LL has to be the one to call them and have this done. My LL did call and talk to them but decided that wasn't the route he wanted to go!
 
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5753553

Junior Member
Test now

I waited to test because it was so costly, I had to save the money for months. a month could be the difference between a passing acute illness for her and a chronic lifelong autoimmune disease for you child. TEST NOW, do what you have to do, don't tell the landlord. Protect your daughter before everything else. If I was you, I would test, if everything came back ok, I would invest in UV lights for the air system a $700-$1000 cost to protect her from her sensitivities. If the tests come back with problems I would vacate and get a lawyer so he has to reiumburse you for the hotel and wait for him to repair everything and pay for more tests upon completion to prove it has been correctly remedied. These landlords get away with endangering children to save a few hundred dollars. . . it's shameful. It will be inconvenient but not more inconvenient then your daughter's respiratory problems and your chronic headaches. Im not a lawyer, but I have been where you are and I thought I would offer some moral support!
 
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