mold/insurance

[Guest guest]

Dear Barbara:

I thought you and the group might be interested on some current "mold/insurance" happenings in Texas. We, in Florida, are headed the same way.

Armstrong - President Florida Chapter

HoheOwners for Better Building - HOBB

www.hobb.org

The Daily Texan

"Homeowners call for 'lemon law' legislation"

Janet Ahmad, Home Owners for Better Building president, said lack of regulation in the home-building industry and problems with homeowners' insurance in Texas hang consumers out to dry. "The building industry is out of control," she said.

Austin News 8

"Homeowner organization lobbies at Capitol""We must address this as a health issue,” said Janet Ahmad of HomeOwners for Better Building. “Until we address it as that, then we are not addressing the things that will prevent mold from growing. We must look at what's causing it, and we must remove these products that predispose the growth of mold."

Janet Ahmad, PresidentHomeOwners for Better BuildingSan , TXhttp://www.hobb.org

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/10/16/3dad11ba3cc3a

The Daily Texan

Price/ Daily Texan StaffJanet Ahmad speaks at the Capitol to raise awareness of homeowner injustices. Ed Hartnet, right, from Houston, and Jo Hayman, at left, from Dallas, show their support.

Homeowners call for 'lemon law' legislation

Advocates ask that builders, sellers be held accountable

By Kris Banks (Daily Texan Staff)

October 16, 2002A homeowner advocacy group demanded a "lemon law" for buying homes Tuesday in front of the Texas Capitol. Janet Ahmad, Home Owners for Better Building president, said lack of regulation in the home-building industry and problems with homeowners' insurance in Texas hang consumers out to dry. "The building industry is out of control," she said. "We will explore all legal means to protect homeowners from predatory companies." Ahmad proposed a home lemon law that would work much like the lemon law that applies to cars, in which the seller gets three opportunities to fix it, and then the seller must buy it back. Sen. Van de Putte, D-San , proposed a home lemon law in the 2001 session, but it was defeated. Ahmad made complaints about mold despite a Texas Medical Association report released last month stating that black mold was not a significant threat to health. Van de Putte said the Environmental Protection Agency had put forth contradictory evidence to the TMA's. Mold still represents a construction problem, Ahmad said. Ahmad showed photographs of moldy boards in the frame of a house. The mold turned out to be harmless, but that was of little comfort to her. "That means in the best case scenario, decaying lumber is being used to build our homes," she said. Ahmad had about 15 homeowners speak about their negative experiences in buying a home recently. Jim and Amelia Payne said they spent $150,000 on a home in Castroville that has cost them $300,000. Amelia Payne said that despite buying their house new, they had to reinforce the framing and straighten the roofing. Jim Payne said they had to go through binding arbitration, meaning instead of going to court, they met with their seller and a mediator. At least five homeowners were from a subdivision in called the High Meadow Subdivision. Channing had water leaking through his windows. Tracie found a jug of water and Taco Cabana wrappers in her walls. Vasquez had large yellow stains on her garage walls. All say they bought their houses new. Kristi Sutterfield, vice president of the Texas Association of Builders, said lemon laws that are like those for automobiles would not work for homes. "Homeowners have it incumbent upon them to do preventive maintenance," she said. "If a homeowner changes the direction of his drainage, he may cause water damage to his home's foundation." Sutterfield said the association favors arbitration instead of lawsuits. Ahmad said Gov. Rick , Insurance Commissioner Montemayor and Attorney General Cornyn have not done enough to protect consumers. "Rick and Monte-mayor gave insurance companies everything they asked for," Ahmad said. Gene Acuña, a spokesman for , said has been very attentive to the problem of homeowners' insurance. "The insurance crisis is the first issue the Legislature will face in the 2003 session," he said. Acuña said ordered an investigation into the matter of insurance in February, before the crisis emerged.

Austin News 8

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/?ArID=48619

Homeowner organization lobbies at Capitol10/15/2002 5:37 PMBy: News 8 Austin StaffTexas homeowners met at the Capitol Tuesday to support the Home Lemon Law, which would force builders to buy back defective houses.

An organization called HomeOwners for Better Building says poor construction and defective building materials are issues that Gov. Rick and Attorney General Cornyn cannot ignore. "We must address this as a health issue,” said Janet Ahmad of HomeOwners for Better Building.

“Until we address it as that, then we are not addressing the things that will prevent mold from growing. We must look at what's causing it, and we must remove these products that predispose the growth of mold."The HomeOwners for Better Building says if the Home Lemon Law is passed, it would do the same for housing industry as the car lemon law did for the automotive industry.

Janet Ahmad, Home Owners for Better Building president, said lack of regulation in the home-building industry and problems with homeowners' insurance in Texas hang consumers out to dry. "The building industry is out of control," she said.