Monica in Houston, TX

My husband, Myself and our combined family of 5 children leased a home in Houston. The lease was to be a five year lease, but we just cut it short by a year and 2 months due to mold. As everyone is aware Houston is one of the areas in the country prone to mold, and both my husband and myself have been allergy tested twice and are both allergic to every mold tested. From the first month living in the house my husband said that everytime he walked in our room which was on the first floor of the left wing of the house, his nose would get stuffy. We moved in on nov 1st of 2011 and he had nose surgery in Oct of 2011 . His nose has been stuffed up since we moved in. We went to our allergist who asked us detailed questions about our home etc. It should be known that we were the first family to live in this home as a renter. the owners had purchased 5 homes in the neighborhood as investments so no complaints had ever been made. Over the course of the 4 years every person except one child has had numerous sinus infections, my husbnd and myself more than anyone and my oldest son whos bedroom was right above ours. besides just the sinus infections everyone was coughing all the time, something we just grew accustomed to i suppose, until my mother came for a visit and said why are you all coughing all the time????Over theyears I had asked the owners if they had ever had the duct work cleaned, they responded no and why? i told them that our house was extremely dusty more dustier than any home i have ever lived in.They said if I wanted to pay for it i could. During the first year of living in the home the a/c in the attic flooded and saturated the upstairs hallway. They fixed the sheetrock but never had anyone come to the home to dry out the attic area. I should mention that there are 3 a/c units in the attic. per our lease we were told that any water issues need to be addressed immediatelywhich we always did. The second a/c flood came 8 months ago, except this time they only had the ac people come out and no sheetrock was ever replaced even after i called and emailed several times. When you have 5 kids and their friends in a home things get pretty hectic as you can imagine. That being said I never stopped requesting them to fix the issue . To top it off, we had water damage from the recent flood in houston as well. no water issues addressed. This past June my husband was going to possibly be transferred out of state. It was a blessing in disguise because it unveiled what i believe is the culprit of 4 years of illnesses.
once my husband told them that we were moving they were not happy and said that it foiled their plans of putting the house up for sale at the end of our lease. We felt bad, but things happen. so, instead of putting the house up for lease they decided to sell it instead, basically holding us hostage for the reminder of the lease or we could pay them 42k and be done. my husband laughed and told them they must be joking. we hired an attorney. here’s where the crazy part starts. The day the house was to hit the market, i noticed a small amount of water on the floor in our bedroom right outside the bathroom. at first i thought perhaps the door was opened and the carpet was wet, but as the day went on the spot became larger. we called the owners immediately and were told that their son who did work would be over . We had already planned to leave for the week-end since an open house was scheduled so we awaited a call to inform us of the issue. what followed was not only disturbing but a revelation of masive proportions.
my husband recieved a text which we still have from the owners son saying….”I think I know where your allergy issues have been coming from. The water heater in the attic had an overflow or condensation pipe which ended in our master bedroom wall. there was never a place for it to go outside it just ended in the wall. This would explainn the mold that was on the windows on that side of then house, the mold that the owner said wasnt mold. This would explain why our front door warped and bglass popped out! Once thatthey opened that wall and pulled up the carpet it was as if a mold explosion happened in our house. It explains a lot of things , but what it doesnt explain is why they did NOTHING BUT REPLACE THE CARPET AND PAD AND NOTHING ELSE!!!! They cut a 6×12 patch in the wall, and installed a line going outside and called it good. it explains why after this explosion when i changed the filters in our house after 3 weeks they were Charcoal Black, and why i saved them and have them in my garage sealed in bags. It explains why i almost had to ask the flight attendent on two flights a week after to have the pilot take the plane down because i thought my head was going to explode. Funny thing about it, they wont return our calls, won’t return our deposit and are denying any wrong doing. As i stated in the beginning, we have hired an attorney, and plan on pursuing. To think that they are going to try and sell or lease this house to another family without disclosing it, makes my stomach turn. When i brought the filters and photos into my allergist, he said he believed it to be the worst case he had seen, and that we needed to get out immediately, which we did literally overnight. Its been 12 days since we moved out. i cant tell you the troubles this has caused myself and entire family. I have had unexplined rashes and bumps on my legs seen 3 dermatologist and it has never been diagnosed as mold poisioning. i felt like I have been in a fog for the last 3 years, like im going crazy. My memory has been compromised , my health. I am the only one in the home who has asthma due to allergies in the home. i was getting thrush every month from my advair which i had been taking since it came out 10 plus years ago with no problems whatsoever. Let this be a warning. Mold can hide and yes it can ruin peoples lives and homes. My Dr asked for me to send my photos to him because he wanted to share it with other Dr’s and he said the house should be torn down. i went by the other day to pick up mail, and the sign is still in the yard and there were several unmarked trucks in the driveway. makes me believe that they are tryinfg to cover it up. All i can say is…….Good Luck and Good Riddens and I hope you have a good attorney!!!I have photos but need my husband to help me put them on. Its horrific.