House sellers should remediate the mold otherwise they’ll find it difficult to find someone who is willing to buy the house with mold or they will have offers fall through due to them finding out about the mold.
f you’ve got a small infestation of mold in your home, then you could try tackling it yourself with part bleach diluted with water. However, if the level of mold growth is beyond your capabilities then you’ll need to call in professionals.
If you can physically see mold growing in your home, don’t waste your money getting a mold inspection done as they’ll only confirm what you already know. Go straight to the mediation stage and try to tackle the problem head-on.
Do not try to paint over the mold to hide it, house inspectors will probably find it and if they don’t, it won’t be fair on the new owners finding out the house they’ve just bought has mold growing inside - how would you like it?
If the house inspector does find mold, then they’ll tell the buyer and they can then request you remediate the home before they continue with their purchase, this will cause the buying process to be extended.
However, if you’re not willing to pay for the mold remediation yourself, you could offer credit or lower the price of the house for the selling so they can pay for the mold remediation themselves.
Do you have to disclose mold remediation?
Yes, you should disclose mold remediation to your buyer or potential buyers when selling your home.
Each state has different regulations, but regardless of where you live, you should disclose mold remediation when selling your house, even if it was a long time ago.
You should document the whole process of the mold remediation, from what it looked like before it was treated to ongoing services and then the end result. You’ll need to keep the recipes from the service you had from the mold remediation company to prove that you took action against the mold.
Make sure you use a reputable mold remediation company that has all the required licenses and certificates, this will help ease any anxiety that a buyer has over buying a house that experienced problems with mold.
Some mold remediation companies offer a long warranty on their services and will be able to return if contamination of mold has spread to other areas of the house or if the service they provided wasn’t effective at treating the mold.
A licensed real estate agent will be able to guide you to what you should disclose to potential buyers when trying to sell your home. Although, we always say honesty is the best policy and will prevent disappointment if an offer was to fall through late through the process.
What to do if mold is found during the home inspection?
If you’re a buyer and your home inspector discovers mold when looking around the home, then you should ask the owners to have more time doing the home inspection so you can call in mold professionals to come to take a look at the mold and see how much it would take to treat. You should walk around with them as they do their inspection to understand what they’re talking about.
Get some quotes from a few reputable companies.
If you feel uncomfortable with this discovery of mold you can ask them to solve the mold problem by using the mold remediation company of your choice, or if they’re not willing to do this, then ask them to lower the price of the sale so then you could use the spare money to cover the repairs before you move in.
Realistically a seller might not be willing to go through the mold remediation process if they want to make a quick sale on the house, especially if they know that there are lots of other interested buyers, so be prepared for disappointment.
If you’re not willing to sacrifice the home, then you’ll need to come to an agreement with the buyer through either a reduction in price or by paying for the mold remediation by yourself.
What to do if you bought a house with mold?
If you’ve already closed on a house and have now discovered there is mold inside, you will need to determine liability, whether it was the sellers who knew about it or if the home inspector failed to find or document the mold issue.
If you’re sure that the sellers were aware of the mold issue, then you could reach out to an attorney and see what they’d recommend. They may write up a demand letter declaring that the sellers should pay and solve the problem or they may just recommend you to solve the issue yourself.
