MOLD IN A CO-OP/CONDO, P.2

You're better off nipping it in the bud and fighting about the cost of abatement than you are leaving it to the kinds of damage claims that were asserted here and then hoping that you're going to be successful defending a claim.

Remember: There are many misconceptions that are involved with mold. One is the idea that mold is always dangerous. Mold is all around us. Mold can be found almost anywhere and can grow on virtually any organic substance. By some estimates, molds comprise 25 percent of the earth's biomass. Yeasts, for example, which like mold are classified in the kingdom of fungi, have long been utilized to ferment the sugars of barley to produce beer or to expand, or raise, dough. And, if you like blue cheese, you're eating mold.

Another misconception is the idea of "toxic" mold. Mold, itself, is not toxic. Rather, certain mold species are toxigenic, meaning that, under certain conditions, these molds may, but don't always, produce certain toxic substances called mycotoxins . It does not necessarily follow from the mere presence of a toxigenic species in an apartment that mycotoxins are also present or that the occupants have actually been exposed to mycotoxins, or even if they have, that the substances are present in sufficient quantities to affect human health.

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) nevertheless considers some mold conditions to be a violation of the New York City Housing Maintenance Code. http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/hmc/hmc.html Accordingly, to reiterate the point I made earlier, boards should abate mold conditions immediately and correct the source of any leak that gave rise to the mold condition. By taking prompt and effective remedial action when notified of a mold condition, boards may reduce the likelihood of facing a mold-related lawsuit.

On a final note, abatement of mold can be quite expensive. Insurance is available to pay the cost of mold remediation, but the coverage is an add-on to standard insurance policies. Co-op and condo boards should contact their insurance brokers to determine whether they have this coverage.

Howard Schecter is a partner at Schechter & Brucker and a lecturer at the NYU Real Estate Institute.

Illustration by Liza Donnelly

Adapted from Habitat December 2009. For the complete article and more, join our Archive >>