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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    Unhappy Breaking a Lease Due to Presence of Mold

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Pennsylvania

    Hello,
    I come here for advice on my lease and issues going on here. My GF and I moved into this apt Mar 1st 2013, Upon arriving to move in there was a property evicted notice outside....The other tenant informed us that the heat for the building broke so she called codes and they came and put up the eviction. So we called the landlords, They said they already cleared it up with codes and that we can still move in. We then spent about 2 weeks with only space heaters to heat the apt. Electrician comes installs wall electric heating units. So there was the heat. Another issue was in the bedroom we would wake up hacking and coughing and some trouble breathing. We suspected there to be mold spores in the air or some other air quality issue. Lets cut forward to June 9th when me and my GF broke up. She was still staying here, Then about a week after breaking up. The center ceiling tiles in the bedroom fell down due to a water leak upstairs. The leak gets fixed, a guy comes and replaces the ceiling tiles, we have mentioned to the landlords they may have a mold issue because of the trouble breathing(Especially in the bedroom). My ex girlfriend who has Lupus and Cervical cancer moved out of the apt (around June 21stish) due to her having some serious breathing issues. So now almost 2 months later Aug 11th they haven't checked into the mold issues or anything involving air quality in the apartment. Neither of the landlords have ever even been here yet, Nor have we met them, We asked them at the beginning to put a deadbolt on our door and put window locks on the windows and to this day they never came and did it or came to see any of it...We rented through their property manager. So I have been in this apartment alone for almost 2 months now. She tells me she has to have breathing treatments for the mold and her medical bills from this place racked up to 12k, and that she has a lawyer involved with this. She informs me she emailed them proposing that they break the lease with no penalty and she won't take them to court for the medical bills. She tells me to just move my stuff out by September 1st because her "lawyer" said hes 175% sure that they cant take us for anything for being dead beat landlords in the whole situation. I hope I covered enough information here, I really dont know what to do. Kind of scared to just move out and stop paying without the landlord agreeing to the proposal. Any and all help/information is greatly appreciated.

    -N

  2. #2
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    Sep 2005
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    Default Re: Breaking a Lease Due to Presence of Mold

    If there's no sign of mold in the apartment, and the repairs are complete, it's not their obligation to test for spores. You are free to get a test kit and test the air yourself. If spore levels are within expected levels (mold, after all, is endemic and most spores are harmless save perhaps as allergens) your girlfriend's special sensitivity isn't a basis to escape the lease - but since it sounds like the primary reason she moved out was because you broke up with her it seems like a moot issue. You've shared with us no reason why you can't continue to live in the apartment - and the reasonable inference is that you don't want to pay the full rent now that your ex-girlfriend isn't contributing (or is going to stop).

    Your girlfriend is going to get nowhere suing for medical bills based upon a hypothesized reaction to theoretical mold spores. Perhaps her lawyer is aware of facts that you haven't shared with us, but if he's advising your girlfriend to write a letter on her own asking to be released from the lease it doesn't sound like he believes there's a provable case, or at least one that can be proved where the costs of litigation don't exceed the probable recovery. She should discuss those issues with her lawyer.

    I don't know what "hes 175% sure that they cant take us for anything for being dead beat landlords" is supposed to mean.

    If the deadbolt and window locks are required by code or by ordinance, and your landlord has failed to fix the problems, then you can consult local housing/building officials about the possibility of inspection and enforcement. The seriousness of the problem depends on the details. Note, you have a "repair and deduct" remedy in your state - you have to follow proper procedures to utilize that remedy.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    Default Re: Breaking a Lease Due to Presence of Mold

    She was still planning on living here for the rest of the least, but like I said she has Lupus(Immunity issue) and Cervical Cancer that she receiving chemo for so shes a lot more vulnerable to the problem. I have great immunities and the air still bugs me. I'll have to grab this testing kit you speak of and pending results i'll send a certified letter and keep a copy proving that I notified of the problem.
    She's not going to be able to get out of this lease without my permission right? Considering we BOTH signed the lease and I cannot afford all the rent myself. I plan on sending them exactly half the rent for the remaining months, she will be responsible for the other half correct?

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Breaking a Lease Due to Presence of Mold

    She's already out. You broke up with her, she moved out, and you have no medical basis to escape the lease. Again, the landlord is not responsible for a tenant's hypersensitivity to a normal level of mold spores, and speculation about the level of spores and their impact on your girlfriend's health is not likely to convince them to release either of you let alone to convince a court that you shouldn't have to pay your rent.

    A normal lease agreement makes you jointly and severally responsible for rent, meaning they can collect the full rent from either of you. It's not their job to enforce your domestic agreement about how the rent is divided. If they don't get 100% of the rent, you can anticipate that they will commence eviction proceedings. You can attempt to prove a harmful type and level of mold spores as part of your defense of that case, but I expect that it will be difficult to meet that burden without expert testimony.

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