YouTube video transcript (Matt Kelly) discussing mold in rental properties. Kelly warns tenants that landlords and management often perform inadequate or unsafe mold remediation to save money, which can worsen contamination and health effects. He advises tenants to ask about the remediation process, be wary of amateur fixes (e.g., bleach and opened walls), and—if necessary—seek a new place rather than risk improper remediation.
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How do I get the landlord fix the mold in my rental? That's something that comes up every once in a while because people get stuck in moldy apartments. And I get it and I see it and it's awful. And I wish there were laws about this so that you had some sort of recourse and landlords and management had a responsibility to fix these moldy apartments. But here's what I tell people is to be careful what you wish for. Because a lot of times when you get landlord and management involved in fixing mold, do you think they get a proper inspection done with the remediation plan? Do you think they bring in a good remediation company that puts up proper containment and uses a manometer to check the negative air pressure and do it all properly? 99% of the time from what I'm seeing is they don't. And worst case scenario is if Buddy comes in himself and starts opening up walls and trying to fix things, and if you see him carry in a bottle of a gallon of bleach with them, just get him out, okay? But a lot of times they're taking the shortcut. Why? Because they don't want to spend the money. Why? Because that lowers profit. And sad to say, but I think you all know this is that it's about money. And fixing mold properly is expensive. So they don't. And I've had all kinds of clients and people report to me how in their rental, the job and houses too, but especially in rentals, that the job is not done properly. And I've even in this mold group, I've seen so many people share horror stories and pictures and of uncontained areas or the containment wasn't set up right, or it wasn't, you know, sealed at the bottom like just nightmare situations, which leads to cross contamination, which leads to mold spores and mycotoxins and fragments and mycobacteria all in your breathing space, all on your bed linens, all on your bath towels. Like it's just insane what happens. It goes into your H Vac and blows into your bedroom and everywhere else. So there's no good answer here. If you have mold in a rental, and I'm saying don't even get them to come in and do it themselves. I guess you could inquire and say, what's the process? Hypothetically, what's the process? If someone does see mold in a unit, what do you do? But a lot of times they come in or hire people that just do an absolutely horrid job and end up making the place worse. And people get more sick. Their inflammation spikes, their mast cell flares, they feel worse. I have one client, I've shared this on other videos where she came back to her space after they fixed it. And there's drywall dust all over table, all over chairs, all over the floor, everything they use, no containment. They just opened it up and all hell broke loose for her too. So I guess the best thing is to do is just inquire on what it could, what their process is, if there's mold. And if they say, you know, Jimmy will come up with a bottle of bleach and work on it, and you don't say you have mold. The worst case scenario is sometimes when you find that it's your rental making you sick. You have to just start looking for another place to avoid the potential of them opening up the place, making it worse. And then you have no time to try to find a new place. You got to get out because you're reacting poorly. It's a horrible situation. I hope you don't end up there. But sometimes the best option is to just start shop or at least inquire what that process is. Hope that helps.
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