Units sit empty in mold cleanup:
Antelope apartment tenants were forced to leave seven months ago.

By Andrew LePage
Bee Staff Writer
(Published June 25, 2001)

Although the local rental market is as hot as ever, Antelope's 192-unit Deer Park Apartments
remains empty seven months after the apartment owners forced out its tenants.

In late October, the owners gave tenants 35 days' notice to leave so that a contractor could
fix water intrusion problems and clean up mold.

Some tenants had alleged mold-related health problems at the complex, and the owners
acknowledged long-standing problems with water intrusion.

Today, work continues to repair leaking roofs, siding, and windows at Deer Park, said Wendy
Buller, a spokeswoman for the complex's owners. She said the 9-year-old complex will reopen
in phases over the next six months, beginning three to four months from now.

Before any of the units will be cleared for leasing, Benchmark, a San Jose environmental
engineering firm, will test the air in each unit, said Buller, who is also part owner of Benchmark.
Those tests are to ensure mold levels are normal compared with the outside air.

She said workers have occasionally run into mold, which she attributes to two problems: water
intruding around windows, siding and roofing, and condensation that built up around the inside
of single-pane windows.

Buller attributed the latter problem to improper ventilation in the units, which she said were
designed to be airtight. Running air conditioners on hot days or heaters on cold days created
condensation on the inside of the windows that, left unchecked, soiled surrounding areas and
spurred mold growth, she said.

Still, she maintains the spread of mold wasn't extensive.

"We did not encounter large quantities of mold," she said. "We've seen 20 to 30 complexes of
similar size that have mold-related issues, and Deer Park's doesn't have what I would call a
significant mold problem."

Deer Park's management is keeping a list of people who have expressed interest in living
there once it reopens, Buller said. She added that enough people have signed up so far to
fill half of the 192 units.

Deer Park's owners spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to move tenants out last fall. That
included decontaminating renters' hard-surface possessions, such as wood tables, and buying
and destroying soft goods made of fabric, including upholstered furniture. The goal was to
ensure potentially mold-contaminated possessions didn't cause a problem at tenants' new homes.

Concerned owners of some nearby Antelope apartment complexes accepted the Deer Park
tenants, but only if those tenants could show letters documenting that their belongings were
either decontaminated or purchased by insurance adjusters hired by the Deer Park owners.

The Deer Park experience has served as a wake-up call to landlords and tenants, who are
encouraged by health officials to report indoor mold growth immediately.

"It's created awareness among industry professionals that the presence of water in a building
can create an expensive problem," said Jim Lofgren, director of the Rental Housing Association
of Sacramento Valley. "If you have water intrusion, if ignored, it can create as much damage
over time as a fire. You might end up ripping out and replacing your walls and ceilings."

The Bee's Andrew LePage can be reached at (916) 321-1065 or alepage@sacbee.com.

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