What happens when one of nature's most efficient decomposers begins sharing a roof with you and your family? Anybody who has had an encounter with mold first hand knows that the results are usually far from pretty. Not including the slew of medical complications that an encounter with mold offers, you can also expect to see severe damage to your home and valuable belongings. When the medical bills and restoration costs for your home start to rack up and your insurance doesn't cover everything, who is responsible for these damages?

                Due to how expensive mold can be to treat inside of a home or office, most land lords will look for any excuse to not have to deal with it. This doesn't mean that the presence of mold in your home is automatically their fault though. In a lot of situations, mold can be avoided or prevented by simply controlling the moisture levels of your home, and taking care of any leaks or spills as soon as they appear.  In a case where you are the home owner, you may be tempted to point fingers at the home inspector, or the contractor that built your home if you bought it brand new. The problem with this approach however, is that a standard home inspection does not cover mold scanning, and building codes can actually promote the growth of mold by eliminating air flow in between walls and under floors to provide a more energy efficient home. Assuming that you are able to show that the fault lies with a third party though, you now have to show that damages were incurred that required remediation, and this can be even more difficult.

                Physical damages to your property will be easier to illustrate than damages to your person, or your family. If treated in a timely manner, mold will often not do much more than cause cosmetic damages to your home and mild allergy symptoms, but if left untreated for any length of time, it can actually begin to deteriorate the foundation of a wooden framed house, not to mention any fabrics that are in contact with mold spores. Damages that affect your health are much more difficult to show due to the lack of scientific research available for mold exposure cases. Just like the early 80's and 90's when people began suing tobacco companies for health complications, mold is viewed in a similar light, and is not seen in many cases as the culprit.

                If you find yourself in a situation where you are dealing with mold, you will want to be very thorough in your homework if you hope to gain any compensation for mold damages.  Perhaps the most important thing that you can do for yourself before worrying about going to court is to do your research on mold to get an idea of what you are dealing with. Beginning the mold cleanup process and eliminating the source of moisture as soon as possible will help cut down on the severity of damages you will have to deal with, regardless of who is at fault.