Hello,
I live in a basement apartment and there are signs that there may be mold behind my bathroom walls. I know this because the landlord sent an environmental company to take a look at it after a more basic handiman opened up the walls and suspected something. The guy from the company said that there probably is mold and it’s a 1-3 day job to strip the walls and clean it all out.
Some days later my landlord called me and said that from his further discussions with said company it was revealed that there may also be problems with the joists (I think that was the word…) deep inside the wall. If that’s the case, it’s a 2 month repair and I’ll have to temporarily move out for that time.
Obviously, we can’t tell if that deeper repair with tools will be necessary or not until we open up the walls further - but my landlord is suggesting that we can’t go back if we go that far.
I don’t really trust my landlord as we don’t have the sweetest of relationships.
So, my questions are:
- do I have the right to push this repair a few months into the future to such a time when it is more convenient for me? If this happens, can I ask him to temporarily seal up that wall (it still has holes now from the other work that’s recently been done though they are covered with plastic)
- if I do have to move out for the 2 months, is it important that I keep sending rent for that time and use a form to try to get it re-imbursed later so he has no possible case to try to turn this into an eviction? (as opposed to not paying while I am not living there)
- is there anything else that I should know / that you would suggest in a situation like this?
Thanks.