The Maine Indoor Air Quality Council receives many calls each week from members of the public looking for answers to their indoor air quality concerns. By far the #1 call the Council gets is from tenants with mold problems in their units. In fact, more than 150 mold in rental property calls per year are received by MIAQC.
In 2017, the Council initiated a series of efforts to address this concern. We convened an interdisciplinary group that worked hard to create and promote guidance for landlords and tenants to use when mold and moisture problems occur in rental properties. We developed trainings for impacted groups on best practice strategies to both prevent and clean up mold. And we conducted an exhaustive legal research project to identify policy strategies that might improve Maine’s landscape. The culmination of all this work was passage of LD 1927: An Act to Add Mold to the Implied Warranty and Covenant of Habitability.
The bill makes a very simple, yet critical change to Maine law by adding the following clause to Maine’s Warranty of Habitability: “It is a breach of the implied warranty of fitness for human habitation when a landlord offers for rent a dwelling unit in which there is a leaking event, chronic moisture or humidity conditions outside of the control of a tenant that result in the growth of mold, bacteria or other biological organisms.” This change means tenants will now have a legal pathway to seek remedies for mold and chronic moisture problems in their units. The law will take effect 90 days after the end of the current legislative session.
The Council has already started to educate impacted groups on strategies to prevent mold in rental units, as well as strategies for proper clean-up and repair that protects the health of both workers and tenants. If your group or organization would like a free live or virtual training, please contact the office of the Maine Indoor Air Quality Council: 207-626-8115 or christy@maineindoorair.org.
