Owner Update “Question of The Month”

Q: Does TMHA inspect for mold?

A: The issue of mold in residential housing is an emerging environmental problem. HUD so far has issued information on cleaning up and handling mold, such as the information on the flip side of the Owner Update. At this point, however, the HQS section of the HUD regulations and the inspection form do not have a specific references to “mold” as we do on Lead Based Paint for which there is now federal regulation in place.

So, in terms of HQS inspections, it can be termed a “soft” issue which could be cited under the HQS “Interior Air Quality” section of the regs. The TMHA inspector would use discretion in whether to cite based on the severity of the problem. It could hinge on the amount of mold present. Is it just a little bit, or is a great deal present? Is the mold in an area where the tenants will be spending a lot of time? Would small children be frequently exposed to the mold? Is there an obvious repairable cause for the mold growth, for example a fixable leak? In cases such as those cited, the TMHA inspector could cite the mold growth as a finding, at his discretion.

Molds can trigger asthma episodes in sensitive individuals with asthma. It is known that one person can have an adverse respiratory reaction to mold while another is unaffected. If a tenant is one that is known to react to molds and this is verified by a physician, the TMHA inspector could cite mold clean-up as necessary to improve the air quality. If HUD does codify inspection requirements in regard to mold, TMHA will keep owners / managers informed.




Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Re-authorization

On January 5, 2006 VAWA was reauthorized by Congress and signed into law by President Bush. The re-authorization has provisions that apply to owners on the voucher program. In a nutshell, the law prohibits owners from evicting a DV victim by saying that (to paraphrase the law), an incident(s) of actual or threatened domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking will not be construed as a serious or repeated violation of the lease by the victim of that violence and will not be good cause for terminating the tenancy or occupancy rights of the victim of such violence.

The law also gives the right to an owner or manager to “bifurcate” (split) the lease to remove a person from the lease who engages in criminal acts of violence to family members or others with evicting the victimized tenants. Nothing in the law prohibits an owner from evicting a tenant for lease violations not related to domestic violence.

Though this re-authorization has been law since January, HUD is just now beginning to issue guidance and some forms needed to implement it. However, since it is now law, TMHA is required to notify owners / managers of the law provisions, in particular the eviction implications. We will give more information as we receive it.
 

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