- October 23, 2018
A Detroit mother has been living with an issue that she claims has been festering for months inside her home. The problem is mold.
Jenna Gardner and her family reside in a rental house in Detroit. Gardner said that she has spoken with her landlord several times about the issues that the family is experiencing, but that the landlord has not done anything to resolve the issue.
“It spread and initially is started caving through. It was just pouring out water,” Gardner said.
The mother invited a local news station into her Detroit home to examine what she says are mold conditions that are not fit to live in. She first brought reporters to the downstairs bathroom and the living room.
“This sink is literally just hanging. It fell on my daughter, my 7-year-old daughter. I got a picture of that, too,” said Gardner.
But the sink isn’t the only issue in the house. Gardner said that mushrooms sprouted from the floor, too.
She said that they poured bleach on them and she had someone come out to spray the mushrooms, to the tune of $900, which she had to pay out of her own pocket. Gardner pointed out the dead mushrooms to the reporters.
She then brought the reporters to the upstairs bathroom.
“All around the tub, towards the bottom, mold is all around there,” she said.
According to Gardner, exposure to black mold that is growing in the house landed her daughter in the hospital after she developed what appeared to be black blisters all over her skin.
Gardner said that she would contact the landlord and she wouldn’t hear anything from him; the only time she heard from the landlord, she said, was when they were calling for rent payments. She said that she has been holding rent payments for the last three months because she refuses to continue paying rent when she can’t even live in her home.
Several different companies have managed the house over the years; however, there has only been one landlord.
Pleasant Property Management is one of the companies that managed the house. When the news station contacted the property management company, a representative said that she couldn’t force a property owner to repair the property. The representative also said that all she can do is bring the concerns that are issued by tenants to landlords.
The representative said that she told Gardner that is she needs her to testify in court on her behalf, that she would do it.
When the news station reached out the Maria Balakrishnan, the landlord, they were quickly rushed off the phone and never heard anything back.
Mold Inspection & Testing Detroit is a highly reputable mold testing company that has conducted comprehensive mold tests on properties throughout the Detroit area. We strongly urge all property owners to have their houses tested for mold to ensure health and safety. To speak with an MI&T representative, please call 313.312.9944.
