Re: Why are mold free living spaces so hard to fine?

[Guest guest]

,

You ask an important question and I generally agree with the two

reasons. However, I fail to understand the argument about

government regulation. Most of us want more so we have a basis

for protecting ourself. Your friend's reasoning sounds like a

defense of landlords so can they can continue to avoid helping

us.

There is a huge difference between lead paint, even asbestos,

and mold. Lead paint and asbestos have specific regulations with

permissible limits which can be tested with methods accepted by

experts or sometimes required by law. Mold has none of the

above.

There isn't even an understanding of what " mold free " means.

Mold spores and fragments are everywhere but mold growth isn't.

If buildings stay dry there is no mold growth. Most of the leading

documents now emphasis " dampness " and moisture issues

which cause the mold growth.

" Mold " is not a thing, but an entire Kingdom of " things. " Lead is

just one of many heavy metals and asbestos is 3 (or 5,

depending on who you ask) of thousands of minerals. We don't

test for " metals " or for " minerals " but for some reason we insist

on testing for " mold. "

Although the health effects of lead and asbestos can vary, it has

been determined that there are specific health effects consistent

with enough of the general population to justify laws for all.

Mold has a cluster of " suspected " health effects which varies

among individuals and which often cannot (yet) be differentiated

from other causes.

Where I will also agree with you is the onorous effects of

regulation,but not quite in the way you would expect. The use of

lead based paint and asbestos has cost billions of dollars in

remediation and even more in health and death. Industry has

learned from this and, in my opinion, is working diligently to

prevent mold from attaining a similar status.

Finally, most professional remediations are in the $1000 to $3000

range not the $10,000 to $50,000 your friend claims. In my 22+

years I've seen very few exceed even $5,000. You do not have to

use professional mold remediators for any reason except in

Texas and land (they have laws in effect). However, it does

help to have a professional who is independent of those who did

the remediation to verify completion of the job as agreed upon up

front. I do many of these, including jobs done by the homeowner

or tenant.

I agree with your friend's list of serious problems. They do exist

and many of us are working diligently to solve them. I disagree

that we are over-regulated.

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

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>

>

>

> I did a little un-scientific poll of rental property in the Cincinnati area

this week just for fun. I called some of

> phone numbers in the classified ads for apartments to rent.

> Among the questions asked where:

>

> Has the apartment been mold tested?

> or

> Is the apartment mold free?

>

> The most common response was a dial tone. (hang up).

>

> Does anyone have a clue as to why this was the response?

>

> I talked to a few friends who are landlords and they confirmed my feelings

about the response.

>

> There were actually 2 reasons.

>

> 1. Anyone who would ask about mold in an apartment before even seeing it are

probably going to be problem

> tenants to be avoided.

> 2. If a rental property owner or manager has a mold test done, Ohio as in many

states requires that you must

> disclose the results of the mold test(s) to any potential buyers of the

property. If it was positive which all

> mold test are to some extent, it can cost the seller 10% to 30% of the sale

price.

>

> Lead paint is very similar for disclosure rules even though if you are over 35

years old you grew up with it.

> Lead paint was on all your toys, baby crib, walls, etc. If lead paint has been

found in a house or unit and you

> have remediated the lead, you must disclose it to every future tenant or buyer

that lead was there at one time

> - even though it has been removed. It is very expensive to remove the lead

including lost rent during the

> remediation process and that is a cost that is NEVER recovered in a sale or

rental. It doesn't improve the

> value so therefore there is no increase in price to pay you back for the

expense. Just like mold - no increased

> value so you can't increase the price at the time of sale.

>

> Now I know that many tenants think that what they pay in rent goes directly

into the pockets of the greedy

> landlord as profit. In almost all cases that is simply not true. Most rental

properties have a mortgage, liability

> insurance, property taxes, maintenance and repairs cost which are taking a

bigger and bigger chunk of the

> rent every time the President gives away another billion dollars.

>

> In today's real estate market some landlords are lucky to have a positive cash

flow on their rental property.

> Further, because of the number of under employed lawyers and the large number

of people who are just

> looking for an opportunity to sue anyone who appears to have more money than

they do, having an un-

> mortgaged rental property is asking for a law suit.

>

> So why are mold free living spaces so hard to find? Because the government is

here to help you. They regulate

> - which isn't always a bad thing. There are bad landlords who admittedly would

NOT do anything to fix a

> mold or lead problem and would allow tenants to get sick and continue to

collect rent and maybe evict them

> when they are sick and can't pay. But the " regulations " go too far. You cannot

mold remediate your own

> house. Even after taking classes on how to remediate correctly. You have to

pay someone else. These

> professional mediators charge $10,000, $20,000 to even $50,000 to remediate a

house. Unaffordable by the

> most homeowner. Unaffordable by the most landlord. The regulations by the

government go too far.

>

> So getting rid of the mold first BEFORE testing makes a lot of sense to me. If

it works (the mold is gone) then

> I don't have to tell anybody there was mold. Because I officially don't know

if there was mold, my tenant feels

> better, or if it's my house, I feel better. Isn't that the point? Get well

without drugs, low cost and stop seeing

> doctors who GUESS at what the cause is, prescribe drugs that have side effects

and don't stop the cause or

> symptoms?

>

>