# Found black mold after home inspection, but before closing



## ibex (May 17, 2011)

Hi all, my wife and I are in the process of purchasing a home. We had it inspected and nothing was found. The current owners gave us access to the house before closing to paint and the like. While painting we found a significant amount of black mold in the drywall, carpet and subfloor. We have removed the contingencies already but are wondering what our responsibilities are regarding this. I will speak to our lawyer in the morning but am looking for insight. Thanks as I am freaking out considerably.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

The way I understand is that if they did not declare black mold in the sale and you didn't accept the terms of an inspection with black mold, you could argue this even after the close. When I sold my house, I'm fairly certain I even had to declare there were no known mold issues.


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## GreenAvenue (Dec 28, 2011)

1. You can ask you inspector to come back and have him give an opinion, this should all be included in his first inspection, if not, get a seconde inspector. Mold, or signs of mold can be serious indicators, don't take this lightly. Better spend a couple of hundred dollars now than thousands later to have it all cleaned up, believe me, I've been there. Get an inspector!

2. Inform the sellers about the mold and tell them what you want to do in regards to inspection/cleaning. Let them know you are considering NOT buying the house. They will probably want some money for the painting that is already done but again, that is money well spent. 

Make sure you know the scale of the mold before you do anything. We purchased a house that had vague signs of mold. I cleaned it myself but when I worked in that room 3 months later I noticed one side of the house (one bathroom and three bedrooms) had significant mold in the walls, it was a really serious problem and it cost us thousands dollars to get it all cleaned and done.


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

You'd have to prove it was a known condition, which is hard to do. Even if they did, the court battle? Hardly worth it. Short of that, you are beat. 

It's why I don't like home inspectors though. What do they really inspect?

I'd try to find out where the mold is coming from. If it's everywhere, it's an ongoing humidity problem. 

Unless the mold is really, really bad, I wouldn't worry too much. Mold has become a little bit of an overblown issue. (not to say there aren't health concerns if it's terrible) But the amount of mold spores you encounter out side of the home is traditionally 4 times that inside.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

ibex said:


> The current owners gave us access to the house before closing to paint and the like.


Let this be a lesson to all you future house sellers. Never, ever do that. No good deed goes unpunished.

Sorry, I had to say that. I am glad for you that the current owners made that critical mistake and that you may still have time to address it.

I don't have any comment on your legal rights but I am sure your lawyer will have some thoughts.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

crazyjackcsa said:


> You'd have to prove it was a know condition, which is hard to do. Even if they did, the court battle? Hardly worth it. Short of that, you are beat.
> 
> It's why I don't like home inspectors though. What do they really inspect?


That was my impression as well. My inspector seemed to fill out most of the forms with "not inspected" A lot of his report seemed to be based only on the age of the house, age of the equipment etc. I ended up having to seal cracks in the foundation myself (don't buy a house buried in snow)



OptsyEagle said:


> Let this be a lesson to all you future house sellers. Never, ever do that. No good deed goes unpunished.
> 
> Sorry, I had to say that. I am glad for you that the current owners made that critical mistake and that you may still have time to address it.


That's what I was thinking as well. I left my house empty and refused to let them in repaint. It's just asking for trouble


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## lb71 (Apr 3, 2009)

ibex said:


> The current owners gave us access to the house before closing to paint and the like.


I am shocked they let you paint before possession. This just opens them up to liability issues. 

Assuming you signed off your condition of inspection, you may not have any recourse in backing out, other than suing for damages. Chances are they were unaware of mold issues, otherwise they would not have let you in to discover it.


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## lb71 (Apr 3, 2009)

mode3sour said:


> The way I understand is that if they did not declare black mold in the sale and you didn't accept the terms of an inspection with black mold, you could argue this even after the close. When I sold my house, I'm fairly certain I even had to declare there were no* known *mold issues.


Knowledge is the key. That may be difficult to prove.


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

Was the inspector recommended by the real estate agent?

I doubt you have any recourse at all.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

Homerhomer said:


> Was the inspector recommended by the real estate agent?


Yes. Another possible lesson. Never use an inspector that is recommended by a real estate agent. Those inspectors can be very hesitant to identify any matters that may result in a cancelled sale. Too many inspections like that will usually result in a significant reduction in referrals from those agents dependant upon those sales.


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## lb71 (Apr 3, 2009)

OptsyEagle said:


> Yes. Another possible lesson. Never use an inspector that is recommended by a real estate agent. Those inspectors can be very hesitant to identify any matters that may result in a cancelled sale. Too many inspections like that will usually result in a significant reduction in referrals from those agents dependant upon those sales.


It's sad, isn't it.

In fairness to the inspector, if the mold was not visible, there is nothing he can do. They are not allowed to tear down walls, rip up carpeting, etc. They can only comment on what they see.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

lb71 said:


> It's sad, isn't it.
> 
> In fairness to the inspector, if the mold was not visible, there is nothing he can do. They are not allowed to tear down walls, rip up carpeting, etc. They can only comment on what they see.


Agreed and I would imagine most inspectors would identify anything that they see. The problem mostly arises on the sugar-coating of the problem. Lowering the cost estimates, etc. In any event, I prefer to reduce any biases, when I can.


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

OptsyEagle said:


> Yes. Another possible lesson. Never use an inspector that is recommended by a real estate agent. Those inspectors can be very hesitant to identify any matters that may result in a cancelled sale. Too many inspections like that will usually result in a significant reduction in referrals from those agents dependant upon those sales.


You should always be aware of conflicts of interest.

A great agent will inform you of potential conflicts, and will also provide fair advice.

My agent recommended a good inspector, who actually pointed out issues that resulted in us not buying the house.
On a second house our agent recommended NOT buying it, and I'm glad we didn't.
He eventually got us a great house at an amazing price, which 7 years later we sold for an even better price.

I understand it's a rarity, but the best agents really do a good job, and there are many good agents out there. When selling we saw how the agents gave the right advice, even if it would potentially cost them the sale at that time. We also saw the slick agents who just want to get the commission.

The agents know who the good agents are, and they don't like to deal with the slimeballs either.


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## uptoolate (Oct 9, 2011)

Agree with several posts. Never use a realtor's home inspector. The mold thing is way over blown as far as the vast majority of people go from a health point of view. I would be much more worried about why the mold is there.

Was nice of the sellers to let you in to paint. Does suggest that they had no idea that there were any problems. 

No idea on any recourse. Good luck with things.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Home inspectors can't see into the walls but should have a device that detects moisture in the walls when inspecting. My inspector which I picked off a long list given to me by my agent had one of those devices. We found there could be a water issue in the downstairs bathroom so when I got the house I completely demolished it myself and hauled the garbage away and then rebuilt it. So if I was forced to deal with your problem I would completely demo it myself and then bring someone in to look at it and do the work if I was not doing it myself.

Of course I would have to know what is causing the issue so either I would find out in the demo or ask the pro to find it after I had done the demo work to tell me. Getting someone in to do the demo and wear space suits to get it out would probably be very expensive.


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## RoR (Jan 18, 2012)

Anything else "off" about the house? Extra vents in the attic, patched areas of ceiling, hole cut in the fireplace floor? Cause of my grow op thread that's all I think of when I hear mold. 

Hope you can get this resolved.


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## ibex (May 17, 2011)

Thanks for the replies, the inspector was an independent chosen by myself via referrals, I have nothing against the inspector due to the fact that as people have said no xray glasses that day. The house is a scribed log home and I am located a couple hundred miles form the arctic circle. I have spoken to the sellers and they are none to impressed, even though they gave us access to the house and everything was above board they obviously wouldn't have seen this coming and now as we are suppose to close in 16 days I don't believe we will be able to close on time and we are going to be pulling our contract by activating our contingency clause.


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

Good luck with that. What sort of contingency clause are you talking about?


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

ibex said:


> I have spoken to the sellers and they are none to impressed, even though they gave us access to the house and everything was above board they obviously wouldn't have seen this coming and now as we are suppose to close in 16 days I don't believe we will be able to close on time and we are going to be pulling our contract by activating our contingency clause.


Glad you posted it, when I sell my house there is no way I will let the new buyers in before the closing just for the reasons above. As far as I know the house is in very good shape and I am not aware of any problems, however the property being 40 years old god knows if there are any issues to be found once someone starts ripping down the walls.

No thank you, don't need the headaches.


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## ibex (May 17, 2011)

we have several contingencies, but the one were going to use as per the lawyer is that we would not be able to get appropriate home insurance as it is now a know problem and the insurance company won't give us complete coverage


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## Freedom25 (Dec 3, 2011)

Jeez, I can't help but feel bad for the sellers. I don't think they knew about the problem, and they gave you access to paint and "the like", did they know about the "the like" part? They were doing you a favour by essentially letting you treat the house like it's yours before it actually was, and now you want them to take on the mould issue, which really, was your inspector's responsibility to identify if it was possible to do so.

I feel bad for both you and the seller, but I have to say I'm on Team Seller on this one. I also gave my buyer access to my house before closing due to unusual circumstances in her schedule, I shudder to think that she could have used this access to back out of the sale after having inspectors already. When you buy an older house, it's pretty much guaranteed that there is something hidden that is wrong with the house, that's just the nature of things that age and get worn down by the elements over time, and we make the financial deal based on this knowledge, that there will be unknowns.


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## Freedom25 (Dec 3, 2011)

Also, were the sellers known to you? You mention being close to the arctic circle so the communities are small... they might have let you in as it was the neighborly thing to do, people in small communities are nice and helpful like that, they help each other out.

If you're new to the community, if you want to settle in and be accepted there, you might not want to get off on the wrong foot with this. If the seller is known to you and let you in for these reasons, neighbor... well, that would really suck too.

I do understand it's a crappy situation for you though, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes either.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

Out of curiosity was your home inspector insured?


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## MikeT (Feb 16, 2010)

I don't understand the rest of the posters here. You found mold! Do everything humanly possible to back out of this sale! Every legal manuever is fair game at this point. Financing?? Maybe you don't qualify all of a sudden because you just took out a huge loan for something else this morning randomly. Or you just quit your job this morning so you have no income. Insurance? Sure, good angle. Whatever possible man.

The rest of you should be ashamed of yourselves. There's bound to be problems in an old house so who cares, pass those problems off to the new buyer??? Ridiculous. 

And as for the buyer: Before I put my offer in for my current home I asked for a second viewing. I inspected the crap out of this house. I was in the attic at one point checking vents while the realtor was saying things like "I don't think you're allowed to do that." I think I swore at him a few times during that viewing.

I do not believe in the current accepted practice of placing in an offer to buy prior to an inspection. Wrong order. You like a house? Do an inspection first, then place your offer subject to a second inspection closer to closing time.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

I don't think you understand where we are coming from on this miket. Sure we all agree with you to get out of the deal but we were also commenting on what to do if one had to actually deal with the mold or the situation they find themselves in.


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

MikeT said:


> I don't understand the rest of the posters here. You found mold! Do everything humanly possible to back out of this sale! Every legal manuever is fair game at this point. Financing?? Maybe you don't qualify all of a sudden because you just took out a huge loan for something else this morning randomly. Or you just quit your job this morning so you have no income. Insurance? Sure, good angle. Whatever possible man.
> 
> The rest of you should be ashamed of yourselves. .


We should be ashamed of ourselves yet it is you who suggest to lie, lie and lie and any way possible. Are we the once to be ashamed?

Have you read anything in this thread? If you had you obviously did not understand anything that had been said.


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