Mold and common sense

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Mold and common sense

By Maury Dailey 06/24/2004

Sometimes a real story can point out issues for others to consider. I

was recently faced with a customer troubled by a letter they received

from a condominium manager. This property is in Naples. Hopefully

Marco Island condominium managers would have more common sense.

Apparently a neighbor in the Naples condominium suspected that the

air-conditioning wasn't working, so they contacted the condominium

manager. The manager sent a letter to my customer, who lives in

Germany. That took some time to get there. The customer wasn't sure

what to think of the letter, so he faxed it back here to me.

The manager pointed out to the owner that if the air-conditioning

wasn't working, mold could become an issue. That's an understatement.

With our humid and hot climate, we have the perfect conditions for

mold to take hold and grow.

You would think that it's not necessary to point out that mold

doesn't know the legal perimeter of a condominium. It doesn't know

it's supposed to stay in the confines of one condominium.

If there had been a fire in one condominium I'm sure that the manager

would have called the fire department and done what he could to

prevent the fire from spreading to other units. Mold has some of the

same characteristics, but is quiet. It spreads a lot of damage.

The damages and health repercussions have been so severe that many

insurance companies have stopped insuring property for mold. Moisture

issues and mold are big hot buttons for insurance companies. Even

calling an insurance company to check on what your coverage is on

mold or water damage is a matter that gets added to your file. That

makes you a more risky customer. Depending on the insurance company,

that can lead to the possibility of being cancelled, believe it or

not.

In the situation of this condominium, the manager should have taken

more appropriate action of checking on the condominium himself right

then instead of sending a letter that may never have gotten to the

owner. He didn't know if there was someone here to check on the

condominium. He knew that they weren't here and that they live in

Germany. As a condominium owner, I would be concerned about my own

condominium if that's the urgency he put in someone else's.

Mold is still a relatively new issue for most people to deal with. If

someone didn't know better and they walked into a condominium or home

that had mold, the air would smell musty. More than likely the air-

conditioner would not be working. The first thing someone would

likely do is turn the air-conditioning on full blast. But that's the

worst thing you can do. Mold has spores. Mold experts try to contain

mold so they can remove it. When you turn on the A/C, you put all of

those spores in the air and spread them throughout the condominium or

home. That's the last thing you should do.

By now, most condominium managers are aware of these issues and are

the first line of defense against mold problems. When mold takes hold

in a condominium, the entire condominium development can get tagged

as a mold infested property affecting all of the owners. If a roof

leaks into a condominium and mold takes hold, shouldn't the

condominium association be responsible? If mold goes from one

condominium into another it goes through attic space or some kind of

common area. Once into common spaces isn't the condominium

association now into the problem?

There are a number of things owners should do in closing up their

property for an extended period of time. Even so, it's a good idea to

still have someone check your property once a month to be sure that

something hasn't gone wrong. Air-conditioners can go out, small leaks

can develop, etc. Sometimes air-conditioning can cause condensation

and dampness around registers. This can lead to a mold problem also.

Oh, by the way, I checked the condominium and everything was fine.

But what if?

There is a past article that I did on mold along with references to

places to get additional information. If you're concerned, contact

your condominium manager or Realtor for more information. Was it Ben

lin that said, " An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure? "

I look forward to seeing you around our island paradise.

Maury Dailey was the 2003 vice president of the Florida Association

of Realtors, SW Florida Region. He was the 2003 Realtor of the Year

and the 2002 president of the Marco Island Area Association of

Realtors. He is the broker/owner of Sunrise Realty of Florida. You

can direct questions and comments to him below.