Mold in Rentals

Mold-Related Inquiries

Often, residents with mold issues or mold-related questions first contact their local health department. To ensure that local health departments have the most up-to-date information, we encourage your staff to look at the fact sheet “Common Questions and Answers About Indoor Mold”.

We have found that this information is able to answer most citizen inquires about mold and health. Also available to your staff is mold-related information for public health professionals on the public health intranet.

Just this past year, we created a Healthy Schools website that addresses indoor environmental issues in education.

To counter misinformation that sometimes circulates in the public health profession:

1. IDPH does not have enforcement authority for mold.
2. IDPH does not conduct residential mold investigations, unless requested by a physician regarding specific indoor environmental exposure.
3. IDPH does not advocate sampling for mold. Time and money is better spent fixing the moisture problem and cleaning or replacing water-damaged building materials.
4. IDPH has no role in landlord-tenant disputes. Tenants can be provided with the attached information for legal assistance.

We hope this information is useful as you respond to mold-related inquiries.