After six meetings, three public forums and presentations from speakers with expertise in the field, the Rental Housing Advisory Mold Committee prepared its final recommendations Tuesday evening on how to revise the housing code it will submit to Eugene City Council.
The committee’s report advises the city council to include language in the existing housing code that would recognize “serious visible mold” as a possible symptom of water intrusion or inefficient weather proofing by property owners. Committee members reached a compromise that would not make landlords responsible for the mere existence of mold, but would require them to repair leaking pipes, fix damaged sheetrock or correct any additional structural problem if a city inspector concludes the mold is not caused by a tenant.
“I think this is a great compromise. We have tenant-caused mold problems, we have property-caused mold problems and we have a general wear-and-tear mold problem in Eugene,” said Hugh Massengill, the tenant advocate on the board. “However, this revision to the housing code requires landlords to take responsibility for structural problems and does a good job protecting both landlords and tenants from being taken advantage of.”
Several property owners disagreed with the board’s revisions to the housing code.
“I would like to say that I completely disagree with everything the board has said tonight,” property owner Don Milligan said. “When times are hard, like they are now, people go looking for ways to make money and I can’t help but be concerned that tenants will take advantage of the new addition of the housing code.”
The present code does not include any reference to mold, who is responsible for its growth or what should be done to deal with it. The committee was established to reconcile tenants’ concerns of dangerous mold with property owners’ concerns about tenant-caused mold problems.
Other landlords voiced concerns Tuesday about the code’s vague definition of “significant mold” and asked the committee to further define so as to avoid tenants calling the city for minor mold issues.
“Everyone is pretty interested in what significant mold means,” property manager Scott Smith said. “By not creating a framework of what mold is, we put the responsibility off to the inspector to decide.”
After several landlords discussed their concerns about the committee’s recommendations, committee chair John VanLandingham reiterated his point that the new additions to the housing code would not hold property owners accountable for tenant-caused mold. He urged the committee to finalize their plan, which was four months in the making.
“OK, now it is time for us to finalize our recommendations so we can stop talking to all of you,” he said.
The committee will make its formal suggestion to city council on April 20 at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers. At that point the council will be responsible for implementing the suggestions.
[email protected]