Mold is a very big grey area in the law in Pennsylvania.  Although local health departments can help when a landlord refuses to act when mold is in the house or apt, there is little they do to resolve the issue.  I am asking for these laws to protect tenants against dangerous black mold and other molds that have been proven to harm peoples health in many ways.  Right now there is no laws requiring landlords or property owners to disclose mold issues.  I believe that it is in the best interests of everyones health that this change and a new requirement that property owners and landlords must disclose mold issues when renting or selling a property.  I also believe that landlords should be more responsible for cleaning up mold other than just getting away with painting over the surface.  These laws need to be better defined and more laws put in place to help with this matter.

Painting over mold doesn't resolve the issue.  When the mold grows through the paint, it could cause people that are allergic to the mold to once again experience symptoms.  This means that the mold could also spread to other areas and also grow inside of spaces that go unseen.  Even though mold is covered under the PA law of Warranty and Habitability, the local health department also says landlords are not required to do much to remove it.  The laws need to better state that landlords are responsible to fully remidiate the mold.  Adding to the laws will help make living healthier as landlords will have to take care of the mold properly instead of allowing some other family endure possible health issues.

My family has been living in a house for almost 10 years that we have been renting that has had mold problems due to severe structure issues on the house.  Due to our landlord not making repairs to the property and ignoring the health department, we have been experiencing back to back chronic bronchitis, constant headaches, breathing issues, our 4 year old has to be on a nebulizer and other issues.  Our landlord was told by a remidiation company that they are not required to do much to get rid of the mold.  In fact, they were told they could sell the property to someone unknowing and they could walk into a world of health issues just as we have.

Adding laws to help protect people in this matter would make living in Pennsylvania healthier.  Revising our landlord/tenant laws and also making them more available to people in trouble will help combat slum lords in PA.