SPRING – The family that lives in a house on North Spring and Pea Ridge in Spring, says a mold issue has not only affected their health, but also their livelihood.
Now, the property manager is promising to fix the issue, but the tenants aren’t holding their breaths.
Laquincy Sykes began renting the home almost seven years ago, but several months ago, he says he noticed some major plumbing issues that began in the bathroom.
“The water came all the way through here (the bathroom),” Sykes said.
The bathroom walls butt up against the two bedrooms he, his wife, and their three young children sleep in.
“The water overflowed and it’s like a little hole over there on the side, and the water got under the tub, I’m pretty sure, and that’s when the water started going to both rooms,” Sykes said.
He said the plumbing issues are still not fixed, but soggy floors and walls are only part of the problem.
“Whenever I moved the bed, that’s when I saw the black mold, but they replaced the carpet,” Sykes said.
Tuesday, we saw what appears to be mold growing around the bathtub, on vents, ceilings, and inside a wall.
“They cut this hole out, you can see black mold all inside of there, there’s still water in there,” Sykes said.
According to the CDC, moldy conditions can cause asthma attacks, eye, throat, skin and nose irritation, headaches, stuffiness, and wheezing, but Sykes says he knows that first hand.
“Her (my daughter) and my oldest were having nose bleeds and she was wheezing a little bit and she was throwing up,” Sykes said.
After taking his 11-month-old daughter to the hospital twice, Sykes said he had to move his family an hour away to Huntsville to live with his mother where their conditions improved. He claims the management company, Hunt Property Management, is lagging on fixing the problem.
“She always talks around it. Like, we fixed this, we fixed that. But what about the mold?” Sykes said.
Skyes says he’s a disabled veteran who’s been unable to work part-time having to stay so far away.
Tuesday, we spoke to the property manager who declined an interview, but says she’s been working on having the mold issue fixed soon.
Sykes says he and his family won’t be moving back until that happens.
