Mold Remediation and Conflicts of Interest

May 14, 2015 — Finding mold is never fun. Where there's mold, there's probably a leak. And once a co-op or condo board is notified about the presence of mold, it needs to move quickly to not only eliminate the mold safely but also find and fix the cause. The board at one particular condo in Hudson Heights, Manhattan, doesn't want anyone's health to suffer, but it doesn't want to get fleeced by a contractor, either. "When mold companies inspect a building for mold, they have a vested interest in recommending mold remediation. Because of this, our condominium is having difficulty interpreting the test results, which seem in part to be a marketing ploy," the board writes to Ronda Kaysen in this week's "Ask Real Estate" column in The New York Times. Although the condo board's concern is a valid one — people have been fleeced before — Kaysen stresses the need to move quickly. "If a resident were to report the condition to 311 and a city inspector found mold, the condo association would receive a violation and be ordered to clean it up. If a unit owner was responsible for conditions that caused the mold to grow, the board could pass the costs onto the resident, but the board still has to do the work," she explains. Kaysen follows up the cautionary statement with some sound advice: "Consider hiring an industrial hygiene consultant to determine the scope of the problem. To avoid a conflict of interest, select a consultant who does not also do remediation."