State Specific Question About: NEW JERSEY (NJ)

I have a new remodel home, whole house is hard wood floor but not basement.

I am a new landlord, did not ask tenant do home inspection before she moved in. Therefore, I have a lot of troubles. I have had paid for 300$ for cleaning house, 400$ for air duck,200$ for window fix, now she is asking for 3000$ for mold remediation.

I am not sure if I need to pay this although the test report said the the molds are not toxic, but has high Aspergillius/Penicllium spore count compared to the outside sample.

Should I pay for it, if not, what will happen?

Nick,

First, come to Convention. I'll be passing out my new one page form that would have saved you $900 and the soon to happen lawsuit for her medical bills.

I would give her the happy clause "I'm sorry you are not happy here. If you choose to leave, sign this letter where it says ACCEPT AND WILL NOT PURSUE LEGALLY and and I will release you from the lease. If the home is left clean and ready to re-rent, I will refund your deposit."

I'll be distributing a 1 sentence clause that would have her PAYING YOU to leave.

I would rather her leave, how to do that? if she does not agree, what happen. I have offered her moving expense if she is willing to move out. but she want to stay. I heard it is not easy to have tanlent out of my home.

you are wasting time.

get an atty and have him do it for you.

If her health in danger and she stays in the house then she is assuming the responsibility, I would send her a letter letting her out of her lease TODAY, no 30 day notice needed. That is what you will need if she actually does get sick.

Please, please attend the event in May, you need this information and it will help you greatly.

What Frank/NJ says. Things that may work in other states will NOT necessarily work in NJ. Perhaps contact someone at your County Courthouse in the special civil part - landlord/tenant area. They cannot offer legal advice or make referrals but they may offer names of some attorneys they've seen appear regularly in LL/tenant court.

If they won't offer names, you should O.P.R.A. (open public records act) lists of recent landlord/tenant complaint forms, and look for attorney names there.

I've never dealt with such a tenant, but my advice would be to try and resolve amicably first, and in a face to face conversation. If you go straight to an attorney - who are wired to look for FIGHTS in my humble opinion - you may run the risk of riling her up and/or sending her off to get her own attorney (probably a low risk) or worse, having her run to various forms of government entities who will be sympathetic to her cries (higher risk).

If you meet her in person and say something along the lines of "Sorry this isn't working out; I respectfully disagree with you on the mold issue and my report confirms there is nothing seriously wrong here; I'm releasing you from the lease today and will return your full SD if the place is clean by X date; when do you want to move out Ms. Tenant?"

My thoughts run like this:

Dear Res,

Here are your options:

____ Release from lease and refund deposit IN EXCHANGE for agreeing to not sue.

____ Stay in the home AS IS, accepting any issues that arise due to it's condition.

Signed:____________

Please indicate your choice, sign, and return by 4-30-13.

Too quick.

But overall, she needs to go. This will NOT go away and will only get worse.

Also, go make yoru own inspection IMMEDIATELY!! Take a TON of pictures to show the home is is good condition.

BRAD,

I am going to use the form you supplied to prevent from more requirements but will pay for treatment. please help me writing here.

Dear Res,

I still stronly recommand that you find a better home for your babies, I am very worried about their heath. I just want you know you have choices here,however,we should make it very clear and have an agreement before I have mold remedation done.

Here are your options:

____ Release from lease and refund deposit IN EXCHANGE for agreeing to not sue.

____ Stay in the home AS IS, accepting any issues that arise due to it's condition.

Signed:____________

Please indicate your choice, sign, and return by 4-30-13.

--67.175.xx.xxx

Nick, Slow down buddy!

1.Your letter: get rid of that wording!! It accepts blame and their lawyer will LOVE IT! That's why mine was short and to the point.

.

2. Mold remediation is a HUGE scam. They test for mold, and imagine that, they FIND mold spores (because they are EVERYWHERE!!!), give you a paper saying people can die form this, and suck YOU into the hysteria and pay them big bucks.

Indiana Dept of Health states their are ove 100,000 species of mold (fungi) and over 1,000 are common to our area. Most are not dangerous to healthy individuals. Not all molds which are black in color are the dangerous "black mold". The Dept of Health's position is "if you see mold, clean it."

When we were recently sued for mold, the residents brought in quotes from EXPERTS ranging from $3000-$35,000 to remediate in my $50,000 house. Pretty broad range for the same little house.

If you pay for remediation, it will PROVE beyond a shadow of doubt that the house was contaminated and their lawyer's wallet will LOVE YOU!

What is remediation? Find the spot, wipe it clean, spray it with a commercial mildewcide, and paint over it.

The spores reported (Spores are not mold, they are SPORES!) can easily be caused by the residents' own plants or belongings. Your res may have carried spores into the house.

(I still suspect there is not real report - tenants lie everyday, esp when it makes them look smart)

By the way, how did we remediate that $35,000 worth of mold?

This is NJ ........... PLEASE DO NOT SEND THE ABOVE LETTER .... you are then "admitting issue" I strongly suggest before you get yourself into hot water un-knowingly contact a lawyer *** most & good *** will give you a free consultation.

If she where REALLY worried she would move - the fact she is not is sending a signal she is looking to cash in - get control ASAP ! My first action would be to get her OUT and I would do so with a lawyer - the up front cost will be far les then what it looks like you will face with this tenant...

Dan,

Do you have mold remoedeation companies to recommand? what's the level of Aspergillius/Penicllium should be? I believe statement "Basement has high Aspergillius/Penicllium spore count compared to the outside sample." is still true even I have mold remedation done. I turely want to know what's

Nickname, go see an atty. Monday. Your letter is going to get you sued. Pay an atty $250 or $300 for a consult, and learn how not to make your issues go from bad to worse.

If you write a contract for her to sign you must NOT include any langauage that infers you accept that a hazard exists, and you must not express any sympathy for the tenant or her family/children/babies/etc because that will be construed by the court and the lawyer for the other side as ADMSSION and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of a problem.

Brad's simple note casts the lady as a difficult and demanding person who is unreasonable and casts you as the very level headed and reasonable landlord who does not want her to be unhappy.

Read those notes (Brad's versus yours) and the two paragraphs above. Read them again. Do you see the difference in tone? In what is said and unsaid?

My dad is a lawyer and would have a field day with your note if he represented the tenant.

You must be SUPREMELY careful in what you say and don't say. Less is more here.

Quit trying to be so nice. This tenant is not a nice person and is trying to take advantage of you and probably makes this a habit.

THAT is why you need an attorney. We are trying to help you, but, you are still green and you have got a pro tenant on your hands who is working you over. Its nothing against you at all.

An attorney will educate you and assist you. Google real estate attorneys in your area, call title companies (they all know RE attorneys) and search Eviction Lawyer in your area.

Nick, SPORES are not MOLD. Think of them as SEEDS the size of dust.