California Apartment Association

A bill that would designate housing as substandard when any amount of mold is visible passed a state Senate committee this week.

SB 655 by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, moved out of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee on Tuesday.

Mitchell says the bill is necessary for the health of families and their children.

While CAA believes that mold should be cleaned up in housing, SB 655 lacks a workable standard or definition for code enforcement or for property owners who want to stay in compliance with the law.

Having any amount of mold or just the smell as the trigger for code enforcement – and all the penalties and tenant remedies that go along with it – is excessive.

The California Department of Public Health strongly recommends that property owners address water damage and dampness.  The department, however, recommends against using mold to determine the level of health hazard or the need for urgent remediation.

The California Department of Public Health strongly recommends that property owners address water damage and dampness.

“We know that it’s the underlying problems – water and dampness – that creates mold. The bottom line is that mold cannot exist in the absence of moisture and that is already included in the substandard housing code,” said Debra Carlton, CAA’s Senior Vice President of Public Affairs.

Unfortunately, SB 655 will elevate mold to the top of the eviction-delay list. Tenants will use this as the number one reason when they fight a nonpayment-of-rent eviction.  Because rental property owners cannot perform random inspections of the unit any time they want, it is during the eviction process, that most rental property owners hear there is a problem with the unit.

While senators allowed the bill to move from the committee, they asked Mitchell to address CAA’s concerns about the definition of mold and owner notification by the tenant before using it as a defense in an eviction case.