Dealing with severe mold in a rental when management won't act
Landlords and university administrations often dismiss tenant complaints about mold by telling them to simply open windows, leaving residents stuck in spaces with poor ventilation, motion-activated AC units, and hidden contamination behind filters. Without official recognition or action from management, tenants are blocked from making major repairs or renovations, forcing many to choose between ongoing health issues or moving out at their own expense.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 18.8× more often in r/hvacadvice than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using spray products that drip from the ceiling
- 2Keeping rooms open to let air travel through the kitchen to the bathroom
- 3Using a friend's shower
- 4moving out immediately
- 5submitting a maintenance or mold complaint ticket
- 6inspecting the return chase and HVAC unit
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I tried everything but it feels impossible to manage that much mold.”source ↗
“Uni administration told us to just open the window. Without their recognition of the problem we can’t just use paint or make large scale renovations.”source ↗
“There‘s no window and the ac only gets activated by light however there are no light switches, just movement sensors.”source ↗
“Is this a serious question? The answer is yes there are biological organisms growing on the coil and being blown into your living space.”source ↗
“My son and I have been sick since moving in back in May-I don't know anything about HVAC but when I went to change the filter on Sunday this is what was behind it.”source ↗
“Easy answer, move out. Your wallet, from medical bills, will thank you!”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2What to do about mold in an apartment HVAC system
- 13How to clean mold on drywall or know when to cut it out
- 7Mold on things from a storage unit
- 17How to clean mold on furniture after rain gets inside
- 7How to stop mold and high humidity ruining a basement
- 17How to get rid of severe black mold on bathroom grout