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we're moving out of the house we've been renting for the past year. when we moved in, we smelled something like mildew downstairs but couldn't find anything (and the property mgt people said there wasn't any).
FF to today, the movers found all kinds of mildew on the boxes we had stored down there and apparently there's tons of mildew or mold on the carpet. We moved here from El Paso - no mold issues in the desert.
They can't say it's our fault and withhold the deposit can they? Obviously we didn't build the house, nor did we cause any kind of structural damage...
For what it's worth, (I live in San Diego), a friend of mine was renting a place that ended up having a mold problem in the closets. Landlord paid to have the contents of her ENTIRE closet drycleaned. She could have sued him but did not as the LL fixed the situation. They did, however, amicably end the lease early because she was also having some health issues they thought may have been connected.
But all landlords are not created equal and I have had more than one attempt some dubious things. Usually, a quick letter with the correct legal verbiage (I just copy and paste right from what I find on the web) does the trick.
There should be some landlord/tenant laws that govern this in your area. A web search may be useful, and there may be a "tenant's rights" organization in your community you could call or meet with if need be (sometimes they charge a fee--the one time I used it it was worth it). It's possible that in this instance the landlord could actually owe YOU.
Mold is a serious problem and has health implications--I would think it falls squarely on the LL's shoulders, unless there was some sort of damaged pipe that you failed to notify the LL about, or you did something to "cause it"--I assume the normal storage of boxes would not fall under that category. Sounds like there was some present before you moved in--likely underneath the carpet.
People who occupy a dwelling are usually responsible for excessive mildew, as it is an expected house-cleaning concern. Here's one of my favorite sites on what a landlord can recover in damages. Caveat: Every town has unique laws. Local attorneys may be consulted, as they usually keep up-to-date on such things. Normal Wear and Tear Apartment Cleaning Landlord Tenants
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