What are my rights as a renter with mold?
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What are my rights as a renter with mold?
Hello ***!
My name is Dolan and thank you so much for contacting me!
I just had a few quick questions for you:
Have you had the mold tested? Have you become sick from the mold at all?
Hey, thanks for getting back to me. The property management company had someone come into the condo to do a test on the mold and said the results are within what is allowable.
No one has gotten sick, but my wife is pregnant and I am worried about the mold.
It looks black, and we don't really have any way of validating that the mold is within 'allowed' amount.
So am just curious what we might be able to do here?
I'm so sorry to hear about that! Has the management suggested when they will return to help get this issue resolved? How long ago did you alert them to this issue?
Management said they didn't need to do a mold remediation based on the law, so they are going to leave it.
We alerted them a couple months ago, and they got someone in to look at it right away and do a test.
As I said, I am just worried since my wife is pregnant, and I don't want her living somewhere with mold.
So just wanted to see if we had any rights as a renter as it relates to mold being in the condo.
This is in California.
Ok! Did you need to tell me anything else? If not, I can start with answering your question.
I guess the only thing is our preference is for them to get the mold remediated. If they refuse, we want to be able to break lease without a penalty to get away from the mold.
No problem! I’ll certainly address that. Anything else you'd like to add you think is relevant before I answer?
No, I don't think so.
Ok! I've been working on an answer while we've been chatting, so it'll just be a moment.
I'm so sorry about this situation! I want to address your situation with a detailed response, so if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask because this law stuff can get complicated.
So the short answer? California has an interest in public health and safety and requires landlords to maintain habitable premises. (Civil Code Section 1941, et seq.) Should a unit be uninhabitable, the tenant has the following options:
- If there is a serious defect, where the landlord was given notice orally or in writing to repair, and the landlord was given a “reasonable time” to repair, but failed to do so, then a tenant can withhold all or part of the rent. (Green v. Superior Court (1974).) 30 days is often considered reasonable.
- Tenants have the right to repair dilapidations and deduct the cost of the repairs. (Civil Code Section 1942; Schweiger v. Superior Court (1970).) For the repair and deduct, the amount of the repair must be less than one month’s rent, the tenant cannot have more than two (2) deductions in twelve (12) months, the repair must render the premises uninhabitable, and the tenant cannot be responsible for the condition (Civil Code Sections 1929 and 1941.2.)
- A tenant may move out of the dwelling (Civil Code Section 1942(a).)
- A tenant may also sue a landlord in small claims court to force the repair and/or sue for money damages.
You may want to consider just writing a formal demand letter that the landlord needs to make the repairs. I drafted a template for situations like this - https://www.contractscounsel.com/t/document-form-checkout/256 . This template is about 90% cheaper than hiring a local lawyer. So you can send this in any way want. It can be text, email, certified mail, or in person.
Ok thank you. How does the law define a unit being uninhabitable?
So generally, it means that the unit is not "fit for human habitation." There is no specific bright-line rule for this as it just requires people to use their best judgment and common sense. Mold is not only gross, but it can cause health issues. It's not something that would be conducive to a happy and peaceful living environment.
Do you know if California has an 'allowable' amount of mold to be in a unit? Is there some sort of test or standard for that?
This is what the property management company has said, and I actually haven't looked into it.
So there is no "allowable" amount of mold to be in the unit. If this went to court, a judge would have to look at where the mold is and the amount to determine if the landlord has breached their duty. If there is a little mold around a window sill or something, that is something that you can clear up on your own. If the mold has grown to the point where a professional needs to get it cleaned or special tools must be used, or the job may take longer than a few minutes, then a court would consider it uninhabitable.
OK. Got it - then I think this unit is clearly uninhabitable based on that.
So our priority is to stay in the unit and get it remediated.
Your recommendation is to send a demand letter and withhold rent? Or just withhold rent?
Sure thing! In my experience, DO BOTH. This means start with the demand letter, but then, if they do not respond, then you should tell them you will withhold rent beginning 2/1.
Keep in mind if they do fix this issue before then, you CANNOT withhold the rent, but if they refuse, you can begin withholding rent and do NOT have to pay any rent back.
If they get it fixed by like 2/5 or 2/10, for example, you just pay the prorated rent.
OK that makes sense.
What if we withhold rent and then they try to evict us and/or sue us for unpaid rent?
If they evict us, that's fine since we can find another suitable place to live.
But I wouldn't want to be liable for paying rent we didn't pay, especially if we decide to move out earlier if they show no signs of fixing this.
Just want to understand my rights as a renter for that situation.
Sure thing! 1. Legally, they cannot retaliate because you exercised a legal right. 2. If they tried, they would have to sue you in court, and you'd not only have a right to defend yourself with proof of the mold, but you also would have the right to countersue for the retaliation. Nearly anything can be used as evidence. This is including, but not limited to, written testimony, oral testimony, text messages, photographs, videos, public records, police reports, medical records, etc. So if you haven't already, take photos and videos now!
OK that makes sense.
Is there any value in us getting our own independent mold report done?
And if we did, could we take that out of our rent payment?
Sure thing! Go to yelp.com and look for a mold remediation expert. Sometimes, they won't do an inspection if you aren't the owner, but see if you can find one to give you a free quote on whether there is mold and how much it'd cost to fix.
If you did end up paying to have the mold remediated, you can deduct that from your next month's rent.
And that's perfectly legal to do?
OK got it.
I think we're just going to go that route.
For sure! Were there any details I missed? Were there any concerns you still needed to be addressed?
Do you recommend we tell the property management company we're going to be doing that?
I think getting the test done first is helpful because it's obvious to me that they are rebuffing you, or they just aren't taking it seriously, and you don't want anything to get in the way of you building your case against them for now.
Ok got it. We'll do that.
I've paid a month, so will keep this open and come back to you if more questions.
I'll also take photos now.
For sure! Yes, you can come back any time. If you need documents reviewed, we give a 10% discount as well because you're a member!
and will probably ask you next steps after we get the test to make sure we do this correctly and within our rights.
Ok sounds good - thanks, Dolan.
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