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Mold in Apartment

By Jacob

I started renting, at Prentiss Creek Apartments in Downers Grove,IL, in March of 2006, and have been nothing short of a perfect tenant. I have payed rent always on time and always in full. In July of 2008 a leak had formed in the roof over the bedroom causing water to run inside the wall, which inturn caused mold to form on the ceiling and wall. I notified the management immedialy by phone and waited 1 week with no action on their part. I notified them again in person and brought it to their attention that I am allergic to mold and suffer from asthma. Once again I waited a week and again they took no action. The third time I went in I told them of their neglegence and demanded a maintenece man meet at my apt. immediatly. The maintenece manwalked in the bedroom looked at the ceiling and said “yep, you have a leak. We are going to have to get the roofing company to fix the roof and then the painters can fix the drywall.” NO ROOFERS OR PAINTERS EVER SHOWED UP! Now in Jan. 09′, after a management change, the window in the window in the living room started to leak, so I headed back to the office to complain about the window and remind them of the leak in the bedroom and the mold that has been forming. They sent a maintenence man who said the same thing as before exept now we have to wait for the snow to melt before the roofers can do any repair. 2 weeks later no repair done, what a suprise. I have now had several asthma attacks and constant allergic reactions to this moldy mess, and just want out of this lease. It expires April 09′, and the complex manager refused to release me and refused to give me their insurance information. I have sent a letter to PRG Management Co., the new owners, and have contacted the village  Housing Dept., I am now getting deprate, the mold has had nothing but time to grow and cause me serious distress. Does anyone have any advice? I am a full time employee and a part time student and dont have much money to hire a lawyer. Is there anything else i can do?

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Edited on: Friday, January 30th, 2009 7:09 pm
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3 Responses to “Mold in Apartment”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

anonymous

January 31st, 2009 9:36 am

Hi Jacob-
Its not fun to suffer from mold allergies. Back in colleg my wife rented from a slumlord that had a huge mold problem, he could care less about fixing the problem. Today, she is very allergic to any type of mold. So, here’s the problem with rental mold problems:
NO LEGAL LAW:
As of yet most health departments have no way to force a landlord to fix a mold problem. They may send a letter requesting a repair, but there is no law that will force them to do the repair. Simply put, the laws need to be updated to tackle mold issues within rental properties.
TOXIC MOLD:
There are thousands upon thousand of types of molds. Only one strand has been found to be considered toxic. The Stachybosis (or something like that) is the infamous “Black Mold.” However, even if it is that mold– there are no laws that require it to be removed.
LEGAL OPTION:
You can go to civil court about mold hazards and can actually get a judgement in your behalf if you can prove that management cause harm by not acting appropriately. This process is expensive and slow. Plus, the management company will most likely have much better legal counsel than you can afford.
MEDIATION:
The RPA provides you an option to file a complaint. For a processing fee of $35 the RPA will mediate and try to resolve your problem. I believe you get a case number that can be checked online. I do know they will attach the case to your landlords public record… so it gives your landlord or property manager more incentive to resolve your problem, for fear of a tarnished record.
I hope that helps. Good luck with the situation. I wish the RPA was around when my wife was in college. It so frustrating working with landlords by yourself, they respond much better when someone contacts them on your behalf.

Jacob

February 1st, 2009 2:12 pm

If I do pay the $35 and file a complaint what steps does RPA take? Its not that I dont trust RPA, I dont trust Prentiss Creek to respond, or if they do I’m afraid RPA will get the same response I got.

anonymous

March 9th, 2012 1:26 am

If you have section 8 don’t you have a contact person in your county. Call your social worker. They are ther to help you.

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