Landlord Won't Repair Home Invaded By Mold

A toxic mold growing under the walls of an Eastside home is causing serious problems.

The tenants say they can't afford to move out, and the landlord is refusing to help.

Team 7 Investigators were contacted back in March by members of the Oxford House. It's a recovery home for drug and alcohol addiction in Kirkland.

The tenants told us their home was being invaded by black mold and that no one was doing anything about it.

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"You can see my finger is going through the wall," said Mateo Maestas, who shares the house with seven other people as part of treatment for his alcohol addiction.

"We do what we do. We work. We go to meetings. And we rely on the fellowship in this house to survive," Maestas said.

But shortly after moving in last November, Maestas noticed a problem downstairs. There was a water leak behind the washer and dryer -- a leak that would eventually get worse.

"I've probably called at least 16 times, left messages," said Maestas.

Roz Burton-Torres owns the house and acts as the property manager.

Mateo said she promised to take care of the leak before it got out of hand. That was last year.

Now, there's mold on the walls, in the shower. There are mushrooms growing from the corners and even the floors are warped.

So in came Evironix, the mold experts.

They inspected the house from top to bottom free of charge. They tested for black mold and air quality. What they found was disturbing.

"Toxic black mold," said Dan Ventura of Evironix.

And not just a little. Anything above 460 black mold spores per cubic meter is considered a potential health risk.

At the Oxford House, tests found 3,600 black mold spores.

"In my opinion I would not want to be in an environment with the air quality we tested here for any extended time," said Ventura.

Mark Chattin, with the Legal Action Center in Seattle, represents tenants when there's a tenant-landlord dispute. He says it's up to the landlord to pay and make repairs to the house.

Unfortunately, he says, that sometimes doesn't happen.

"We've had numerous cases where mold is an issue because of small leaks that no one paid attention to until it's too late," Chattin said.

Maestas said he's tried everything, but his landlord doesn't seem to care. Now he can't help but feel the reason why he's being ignored may have to do with why he's living there.

"A bunch of alcoholics and drug addicts. Go ahead and take advantage of them. It happens a lot these days. Sad," Maestas said.

We found Roz Burton-Torres on Facebook. She runs Washington Real Estate Solutions. But she's not operating out of her Kirkland office. She's living in the Caribbean.

In a short Facebook exchange, Roz told us she would forward this information to her attorney and will respond once she gets an answer back.

Maestas: "She's a slumlord."

Maestas is still waiting for an answer. He's now six months sober and credits the house and his roommates for his survival. But for how long may depend on how long he's able to live in the house.

"We just want a fair shake," said Maestas. "That's it, a fair shake."

To fix and rid the house of mold would cost more than $6,000. Maestas said they can't afford to pay for repairs. He and his housemates live paycheck to paycheck, so finding a new home that can hold eight people isn't easy.

The Oxford House -- based out of Maryland -- says it's in the process of trying to help relocate everyone in the home.