I had a tenant call two days ago saying she had a leak in her ceiling. When someone was upstairs running water. Went over that day, no leak went upstairs to an empty apt. ran the water in the kitchen sink no leak, bathroom sink, leak . I tell her no one will be upstairs this week, I will call a plumber to come fix it. Plumber can't come for a week, so I have my maintenance guy cut a hole the next day to check it, we see the elbow of PVC has come apart. We go over the next morning cut back the sheep rock, repair the pipe, she says, I think I see mold up there. We see crap that came out of the pipe and its dirty, but we don't see mold. She takes a piece of the ceiling to be tested. Now she is having a mold expert come to the house on Friday to do an air quality test and test her sample.

Time frame Sunday, 1st time she see's leak, no one in apt after that no leak, wed. morning 8am leak fixed patched. Her apt. is a mess, really dirty and dust and crap everywhere. On Sec. 8 lives there without paying anything, gets food stamps. She told me she has breathing problems and she needs to see if it was caused by mold were the leak was. Now claims its been leaking for 3 years, not true, if it was she never told us. I took pictures don't see any mold on the wood, but the sheet rock was all dirty and crappy when we took it down were it was wet.

Stay tight lipped and get rid of her asap. Don't honor any tests done by anyone she hires. Personally. I wouldn't even talk to anyone she brings there and certainly wouldn't pay for it. If she tries to get squirrelly with the rent, evict.

She already called in the expert! He is coming friday.

she is on Sec. 8 housing so not easy to evict!! I think she see's this as a way to make money!

She already called in the expert! He is coming friday.

she is on Sec. 8 housing so not easy to evict!! I think she see's this as a way to make money!

Call him and tell him you aren't giving him access to YOUR property and that you aren't paying for his services and that she's dead broke so good luck getting

paid.

Problem is there is mold EVERYWHERE! Make them prove it came from a leak that was only a few days old.

Her claim of Mold has created an adversarial relationship.

Do not ever TALK to her again

document everything and only communicate by written means

If my tenant claimed mold that would void MY lease because it is no longer habitable

As soon as it is no longer a retaliatory measure - EVICT - use the NH Law V. "Other good cause" as set forth in paragraph II(e) of this section includes, but is not limited to, any legitimate business or economic reason and need not be based on the action or inaction of the tenant, members of his family, or guests.

Make sure she knows you are not paying for any testing and you are not giving access to any other part of the property.

Other than that, don’t say a word.

Make clear notes for yourself:

Date you were first notified about a potential leak.

Date you called for service

Date of additional service.

All other communication notes.

She just called me and told me if I sign the house over to her she will sign a paper releasing me of any liability for her health issues

Curious that it's caused health problems, but she doesn't mind getting a free house out of it.

Maura, my mom was around 78 yrs old at the time. We went before the judge a few times to try to get the case settled. The first few times were to get back control of the property since they were not paying rent. The judge had them return the keys and vacate what was still in the house. The tenant's attorney actually saw that they didn't have a case with the mold issuse and since he was on a contingency fee basis, he quit.

We finally settled with the tenant rather than running up higher attorney's fees. We settled by returning their deposit, not charging for any damages (which was in the thousands), and giving them a recommendation letter. I told the attorney that I won't lie, so the letter just stated the address of the property, the dates that they rented, and the monthly rent. It also stated that they had no outstanding charges. Any decent landlord would have known that the letter had something behind it and would want to know more, so either they didn't use the letter or the landlord never called.

Maura, just make sure you have a great attorney who knows the real estate laws. Our attorney is part of our local REIA. He even discounted his attorney fees for us. Since he was also a landlord, he was able to give us solid advice.

As someone stated it costs alot to do a mold test. I would bet alot that they will not put out the $$.

Totally separate,but not, issue, it is a business-not a friendship. Does your mortgage company get you groceries,etc?

I am with everyone else, mold and she wants to buy it, YEAH right..Everything in writing/voice mail. On Section 8 and wants to buy it???Bet teh friend has something to do with it,it doesn't matter-it has now soured your relationship with your tenant.

If she wants to send you the results,fine-but don't comment on them. Do a little research on the company and type of test but don't tell her. As soon as rent is not paid, file. See if Section 8 still sends the check.

My license mold inspector will be coming today to do inside and outside mold readings. it takes at least 10 days to get the results. Then we will see if it has TOXIC mold.

She has been asking me lots of questions lately even before this came up about what I'm going to do with this house.

If my kids are going to take it over. She also said: We are all getting older you should sell this so you don't have to deal with it anymore. So her "friend" must have an interest in the house and wants to get it cheap.

Why are you even hiring your own mold inspector? Get it dry and clean and seal the drywall up.

OK thanks.

So...Has June rent been paid by anyone yet?

Sec. 8 paid her June rent.

Both our mold inspectors came yesterday.

You can not see any mold anywhere in the house.

No mold smell, no complaints of mold, the only way we would have know there was any mold anywhere is when we opened the ceiling to look at the pipe and she was there. She said THAT LOOKS LIKE MOLD ON THAT PIPE, I thought it looked like crap from the pipe. So from the time we opened up the ceiling and got in there cleaned it up, glued the pipe, sprayed the cavity with mold killer disinfectant was less then one day. So she can't say we were negligent. If we had mold we were totally unaware of it, and so was she. I took a sample from the ceiling we took down and did one of those 5 min test for the TOXIC mold, the 2 different kinds, it was negative. So i'm hoping the experts air quality tests come back good too!.

Sec. 8 paid her June rent.

Both our mold inspectors came yesterday.

You can not see any mold anywhere in the house.

No mold smell, no complaints of mold, the only way we would have know there was any mold anywhere is when we opened the ceiling to look at the pipe and she was there. She said THAT LOOKS LIKE MOLD ON THAT PIPE, I thought it looked like crap from the pipe. So from the time we opened up the ceiling and got in there cleaned it up, glued the pipe, sprayed the cavity with mold killer disinfectant was less then one day. So she can't say we were negligent. If we had mold we were totally unaware of it, and so was she. I took a sample from the ceiling we took down and did one of those 5 min test for the TOXIC mold, the 2 different kinds, it was negative. So i'm hoping the experts air quality tests come back good too!.

Sec. 8 paid her June rent.

Both our mold inspectors came yesterday.

You can not see any mold anywhere in the house.

No mold smell, no complaints of mold, the only way we would have know there was any mold anywhere is when we opened the ceiling to look at the pipe and she was there. She said THAT LOOKS LIKE MOLD ON THAT PIPE, I thought it looked like crap from the pipe. So from the time we opened up the ceiling and got in there cleaned it up, glued the pipe, sprayed the cavity with mold killer disinfectant was less then one day. So she can't say we were negligent. If we had mold we were totally unaware of it, and so was she. I took a sample from the ceiling we took down and did one of those 5 min test for the TOXIC mold, the 2 different kinds, it was negative. So i'm hoping the experts air quality tests come back good too!.

Just waiting for the mold experts reports.

praying it comes back ok. I really feel that we have done nothing wrong. She called us about a leak, we fixed it immediately we had no complaints from her or anyone about mold or leaking. If there happens to be something up in the ceiling we had no knowledge of it and if they say its mold I will hire professionals to deal with it immediately

She is nuts! What kind of black mail is that? And how does she have $500 to pay for such testing. I would be very concerned of her behavior. Scary behavior for sure. I can understand why you would be worried.

Remember to run your business. Be professional and don't get caught up in her drama. Respond to each maintenance call. Start a time line, get paper and pencil write out just like you did here... where what who date time. Very important. As time goes on you'll forget important details. Take pictures. Record on your time line text messages, voice messages... transcript them.

Thank you for your support