Hi dear landlords, I own a manufactured (mobile home). A prospective tenant (not approved yet) wants to hire a licensed contractor (at her cost) to do a mold test free of my charge before a lease signing. This applicant is also a contractor. The structure is sold, roof work done but it is a mobile home, in CT, in a rural area so is prone to mold. I have all my lease holders sing a mold addendum for this reason.

Any thoughts or reasons for concerns?

As a retired home inspector who has done about 100 mold tests, I can tell you this:

1) There is no such thing as a house that does not have mold spores in it. I have tested at least a hundred homes and found mold in all of them. Mold is natural and exists almost everywhere. Some molds we eat, such as mushrooms cheeses...these are molds!! The question is whether there is an "abnormal" amount or type of mold.

2) What kind of test are they doing? If it's a mold "swab", then you must see the mold, and swab it with a q-tip device and send to a lab for analysis. If they don't see any mold, where will they swab? If it's an "air quality" test, then you use a vacuum pump to pull air through a filter, then send the filter to the lab for analysis...that's the type of test I was referencing in #1 above.

3) There are thousands of different types of molds, and not all are dangerous. The term "black mold" is a misnomer...some black molds are toxic and others are harmless. Some people mistakenly think that ANY mold, if present, is grounds for lease termination...not true.

4) In Indiana, 90% of my tests turned up penicillium, aspergills, or cladosporium...all very common molds and these are all in the "allergenic" category...which means that a person without a sensitive respiratory system would have no symptoms at all, whereas a person with severe allergies may have symptoms.

5) If you otherwise like the tenant, I'd let them do the test but make an agreement that the results must be sent to you also lest they may lie about the results. Don't hold up otherwise qualified tenants to wait for their test to come back. I'd also want to understand what would "trigger" them to not rent....as I said ALL homes will show mold on an air quality test. When we did testing, we would extract samples from a few rooms inside the house and then one outside sample, and the lab then would use the outside sample as a "control". If the inside mold spores were significantly higher than the outside, they would flag the mold as "excessive" and recommend further investigation. The last thing you want is for a tenant like that to first move in, THEN blame mold for some symptom they are having.

tonia,

RUN!!! This person is ALREADY trouble!

Hoosier nailed it. Mold is in the very air we breathe, inside and out, so YES your house has mold.

Now, here's a legal problem if the house is tested: you may need to disclose the mold test results to every furutre resident and when selling. Who wants to buy a house that test positive for mold!?

And...your insurance may cancel your coverage and will likely not provide ins for your buyer thus killing a sale.

My lease is clear: resident has examined the home and is satisfied with its condition including any allergic reactions.

Atty's say "Mold is Gold". Worth a lot in legal fees!

For what it's worth our housekeeper does general cleaning with a hospital grade disinfectant/mildewcide.

"resident has examined the home and is satisfied with its condition including any allergic reactions."

brad, have not heard of such a clause. Do you put that directly into lease or as part of the security deposit condition report?

If into the lease, how do you give them time to determine if they have any allergic reactions?

Here's an evil thought....

A mold remediation and testing company could hire people to pose as tenants, during the application process become suspicious of mold and offer to test. Once tested and mold found, the company testing, the tenant's company, could then offer remediation services and your tenant could pressure you to use them and get it done. Afterwards, tenant backs out and moves to next victim.

That’s why I rent to smokers. They don’t worry about things like this.. Cheers!

Any prospect who mentions mold sensitivity gets an automatic DQ from me. I get that some people are very sensitive to environmental factors, but I don't think you need a mold test to figure out if a house is going to cause you problems. Just walk down into the basement and stand there for five minutes. If there's a mold issue, you'll smell it and react to it. Look everywhere where it's dark, moist and warm.

Bathrooms are continuously a science project in motion.

Every time a shower or bath happens in a bathroom there is moisture and mildew/ mold LOVES moisture.

If no bathroom fan to remove the moisture from the area then mildew/mold forms.

If tenants or homeowners do not clean the bathroom there will be spores of sorts on the walls, ceiling of the bathrooms.

PLUS windows sweat due to the exterior and interior temp variation therefore mildew and mold forms on the area around the windows. Unless the windows are newer and are well built the sweating most likely will not happen.

If there is a crawl space and the floor joists are not well insulated and there is no vents in the crawl space its a great place for mildew/mold to happen. Also a vapor barrier on the ground of the crawl space will be a major help with moisture control.

The best thing to do if you have a higher moisture issue in your house is use a dehumidifier plus you a/c heating system can have a dehumidifier on it as well.

Downnspouts directed away from the house to keep water from standing along the house will be a major help keeping moisture away from the foundation.

Keep the bathroom and kitchen areas clean this will help with mildew/mold issues.

A prospective tenant that wants a mold test done will be a NO. Not happening, thank you for your interest you are not considered for the unit. BYE BYE BYE

Automatic rejection.

The "prospective" tenant is a contractor?

- He is looking for work. Next he will find dozens of upgrades and "offer" his services in exchange for rent.

If this "prospective" tenant didn't even fill out an application (or return it) I wouldn't even bother. Why would someone that isn't even "in the running for the apartment" willing to do a test? He's up to something and you will be on the hook going forward.

You can't fault a future resident for being concerned about their environment. But it does raise eyebrows for me.

I would ask them why they are leaving where they are at, and if you can review current air quality test where they are living at. I would also be calling the current LL.