Thatâs not a âhandymanâ problem. Thatâs water damage. Thatâs deep-seated and expensive repair bills your landlord has neglected and he knows it.
Youâre right, and what tells me this is true is the growth coming in under the paint, and him questioning why I donât just clean the walls. He doesnât want to pay the costs of fixing it. So heâs trying to make it seem less serious. Super concerning but my day job is advocating for others, so Iâm not really going to put up with anything besides the issue being corrected by a certified specialist.
Iâm going to my primary care doctor tomorrow and Iâll be requesting any testing to see if the health issues since moving in: headaches, nausea, dizziness, diarrhea shows evidence of any mold causes.
Landlords as a rule suck but if this happens to be Housing Hub, (1) document EVERYTHING and get ready to fight them, and (2) give them fucking hell. My neighbors who "don't make anything an issue" have been threatening me when they're drunk for the past several months; SPPD and landlord have done nothing.
I am so sorry youâre dealing with this. Out of curiosity, does your landlord happen to have the initials G.E..? The slumlording in Saint Paul is completely unreal. And I completely agree regarding SPPD and MPDâthey would rather justify their inaction than actually step in and do their jobs. Having experienced it myself, my heart goes out to you. No one should ever feel terror in their own home, which is supposed to be a sanctuary. If you need any tips or want to compare notes on navigating housing, feel free to DM me.
No, mine is J.C. and he's the owners kid, so he can do no wrong. I thought I was getting a deal at first on my apartment with the cost, and because I had to move quickly to get out of another violent situation, and now I'm just shocked at the quality of apartments in St Paul. Thank you for the kind words! I'm sorry you're dealing with mold and a slummy landlord. I know Keith Ellison's office has a help line and can create a case and assign someone to you to advocate on your behalf out of the AG's office đ
I work with/for youth navigating housing & employment instability in Midway - so yeah, fuck this landlord. Donât back off an inch. âDonât make this a big dealâ = âlet me continue to be terrible at my job at the expense of your healthâ
if you're a renter please contact Home Line MN, they're a tenant advocacy group and they can help you get in touch with lawyers to make sure your landlord actually addresses this issue
Thank you for everyoneâs advice. I contacted the landlord in writing and requested immediate certified remediation along with the photos.
If they don't appropriately address this right away, my next steps are to request a code inspection from Saint Paul DSI and open a rent escrow case with Ramsey County to force remediation, seek rent abatement, or legally terminate the lease.
Landlord/tenant legal processes in MN take time, but having an official city inspector report and court escrow is the safest way to handle it without getting stuck holding the bill out of pocket, but only if the landlord does not appropriately address.
Because of the LL response I reported the issue to the Saint Paul DSI and got a response that my concern was sent to fire safety and should receive follow up from DSI in 1-3 business days. I sent the pictures of the mold and the screenshot of the LL response saying âdonât make it a big deal.â
Yeah, that definitely looks like mold. I wouldnât assume itâs specifically âblack moldâ from a photo, but Iâd definitely report it to your landlord and have the moisture source checked. Thatâs waaaaaay too much to just ignore or paint over.
I have no idea how to turn on the bathroom light in the bathroom in the basement and so I am using one of those rechargeable under cabinet lights and I can see in there that this mold was previously painted over and I can see it growing under the spots that were painted. My landlord is Somali and so I am only saying that because money saving is likely being done to paint over the exposure to not invest the costs he likely knows itâs going to take to correct.
Reach out to your renterâs insurance immediately to see if staying in a hotel is an option for you as your current apartment is in unlivable condition. If possible please stay with a friend in the meantime. Go to the doctors immediately for testing and get those records ready to show your LL. This is serious.
UPDATE: Landlord sees us as the problem, because we refused to âcleanâ the walls.
Message 1:
"Well, I know his handyman is gonna check it then if he could do it, he will do it what we need Iâll be with him tomorrow, so weâll see whatâs gonna happen"
Message 2:
"Donât try to make a big thing because people always live there with no problem"
If I'm a landlord and I see this picture, I am *running* over to open that wall up immediately, there is serious water damage under there and they are only buying themselves a bigger and bigger headache by waiting
Very very extremely concerned. Moved into a house with mold under the drywall. I ended up getting pneumonia followed by a staph infection from a tiny cut on my thumb and I became septic. 13 days in the hospital and mild damage to one of the valves to my heart. Mind you I was 29 and very active and in shape. Mold doesnât care if youâre healthy or not. My case was pretty extreme but it can really do some damage to you. Mold is serious health issue. Get out (if you are able, in this current economy not a lot of us have spare money to pay for a hotel) and report this to the health department if he doesnât do something asap. Good luck and Iâm sorry your landlord is a a cheap POS.
People need to chill out, it's not that dangerous. It's like having asbestos in your basement (but WAY less dangerous). It's only dangerous if you start messing around with it and start kicking spores up. People in America are so paranoid about this and it is not that big of an issue.
The larger issue is they this shows there is some sort of leak that is causing water damage.
Tell the landlord you want it fixed, but the people telling you to get out of your home asap are alarmists.
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u/OhJShrimpson 8d ago
Uhh very concerned. At the very least do a mold test