What is a landlord responsibility for environmental hazards such as asbestos and mold?

Property owners may be liable for tenant health problems caused by exposure to environmental hazards, such as asbestos and mold.

Regulations concerning asbestos are issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). They set strict standards for the testing, maintenance, and disclosure of asbestos in buildings constructed before 1981.

Mold is the newest environmental hazard fueling lawsuits against rental property owners. Across the country, tenants have won multimillion-dollar cases against landlords for claims of significant health problems-such as rashes, chronic fatigue, nausea, cognitive losses, hemorrhaging, and asthma-allegedly caused by exposure to "toxic molds" in their building. In a typical case, the Delaware Supreme Court, in May 2001, upheld a $1.4 million award to two tenants who suffered asthma and other health problems allegedly caused by mold that grew when the landlord refused to fix leaks in their apartment.

There are no federal or state laws or regulations that set permissible exposure to mold, though California has directed its Department of Health Services to study the issue.

San Francisco has added mold to its list of nuisances, thereby allowing tenants to sue landlords under private and public nuisance laws if they fail to clean up serious outbreaks (San Francisco Health Code § 581).

Ask an Attorney

Feel free to ask a legal questions that you would like answered. Your question will go directly and only to Deskin Law Firm, a professional law corporation. Deskin Law Firm will contact you directly to discuss your situation, usually via telephone, so please provide multiple ways to reach you via phone. Your situation will be kept confidential. There is no cost to discuss your situation and no attorney-client relationship is created by simply filling out the form and sending it.

Please type your first and last name.

Please type your area code and phone number.

To most effectively be able to reach you, please type another phone number where we may be able to reach you.

Please type the city and state (and country if outside the USA) that you live in.

Please type your email address and check it to make sure it is correct.

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
6 + 0 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.