Dealing With Mold in a Midlands Home
Your family's health comes first.
- Bring it up at your next appointment. Breathing trouble, rashes or headaches that ease when you're away from home are worth telling a doctor about.
- Stay safe while documenting. Pictures from the doorway are enough; leave the attic and crawlspace to professionals. A big patch behind a washer or across a ceiling is a job for a remediation company.
- Photograph what you can see safely. Stains, leaks, ceilings, walls and ruined belongings, with new photos over time.
- Date everything. The first drip, the first black spot, each call to the property manager and each response.
- Save every message. Texts, emails, portal tickets and letters about leaks or repairs.
- File the professional paperwork. A mold inspector's findings, air or swab results, a contractor's bill, and for owners, the home warranty and closing documents.
- Don't sign anything in a rush.
Mold Around Columbia
Columbia's long, humid summers and sudden storms are hard on buildings. Older homes in neighborhoods like Shandon, Rosewood and Earlewood, student rentals near USC, and apartments across Richland and Lexington counties can develop leaks and moisture problems. Homes near Gills Creek and other low areas have dealt with flooding, including the October flood that sent Gills Creek over its banks.
When a Landlord May Be Responsible
The Act requires landlords to make repairs and keep rentals fit and habitable, though it generally doesn't cover short-term stays such as vacation rentals subject to the accommodations tax.2 If a landlord doesn't correct qualifying problems, tenants may have remedies such as actual damages, injunctive relief or ending the lease.3
Mold in a rental doesn't automatically make the landlord responsible for an illness. That depends on the condition, notice, repairs and medical evidence.1
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
Time to File
Most personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.4 That's a deadline to file in court, and an insurance claim won't pause it.5 The period generally begins when a person knew or should have known about a potentially actionable injury.6
When mold traces back to construction defects, faulty waterproofing or badly installed systems, South Carolina generally imposes an eight-year outer deadline measured from substantial completion of the improvement, with exceptions. That limit is separate from the ordinary statute of limitations and may bar a claim even when the problem surfaced later.78
A claim against a state or local government agency has its own deadline, which can be shorter, and caps may apply.9 See toxic mold claims in South Carolina for more.
Talk With Us
Bring the dates: first leak, first complaint, first doctor visit. If you hire us, the insurers can usually deal with us.
Our office is on King Street in Charleston. We take cases across South Carolina, including Columbia and the Midlands. The first conversation can happen by phone. For chemical or carbon monoxide exposure, see Columbia toxic exposure claims.
South Carolina Law on This
- A toxic exposure or mold claim generally requires more than showing that a substance was present. Depending on the legal theory, evidence may be needed on how exposure occurred, whether the substance can cause the type of injury involved, and whether it caused the particular person's illness. Exposure does not automatically establish that someone is legally responsible for a medical condition.1
- South Carolina's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act requires landlords to make repairs and keep rental homes fit and habitable. The Act generally does not cover short-term stays, such as vacation rentals, that are subject to the state's accommodations tax.2
- Under South Carolina's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, tenants may have remedies when a landlord does not correct qualifying noncompliance, which depending on the circumstances may include actual damages, injunctive relief or ending the rental agreement. Specific notice requirements may apply before ending a lease.3
- Most personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.4
- South Carolina's statute of limitations generally sets the deadline for filing a lawsuit in court. Simply opening a claim with an insurance company or negotiating with an insurance adjuster does not stop the statute of limitations from running.5
- South Carolina's three-year limitations period for personal injury claims generally begins when a person knew or, through reasonable diligence, should have known that they had a potentially actionable injury. A person does not necessarily need to know the precise substance responsible, every defendant or the legal theory before the clock begins running.6
- South Carolina generally imposes an eight-year outer deadline on lawsuits arising from defective or unsafe improvements to real property, measured from substantial completion of the improvement. Exceptions may apply. This deadline is separate from the ordinary statute of limitations and may prevent some claims even when the problem was discovered later.7
- Claims against builders, contractors and designers over work on real property can be cut off by a fixed outer time limit that applies no matter when the problem is discovered.8
- Claims against a South Carolina state or local government agency have their own filing deadline, which can be shorter, and there could be caps on damages under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, depending on the facts of the case.9
Frequently Asked Questions
We've had mold for a long time. Is it too late?
The landlord just painted over it. What can I do?
Photograph the walls, especially if the stains come back. Save the work-order emails and whatever the landlord wrote back. Under South Carolina's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, tenants may have remedies when a landlord does not correct qualifying noncompliance, and specific notice requirements may apply before ending a lease.3 Before turning in the keys or withholding a rent check, get advice on the notice rules.
Does mold in the house prove it made me sick?
No. Exposure does not automatically establish that someone is legally responsible for a medical condition.1 Your history, symptoms and other possible causes all get a look.
Do I need a doctor's note linking the mold to my illness before I call?
No. Tell your doctor about the mold and water damage, and call while you're still being seen.
Sources
- General South Carolina toxic tort causation principles (Sean Hall, Nov 5 review)
- S.C. Code §§ 27-40-440 and 27-40-120(4)
- S.C. Code § 27-40-610
- S.C. Code § 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-3-20 and 15-3-530
- S.C. Code § 15-3-535
- S.C. Code §§ 15-3-640 and 15-3-670
- S.C. Code § 15-3-640
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-110 and 15-78-120
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation. Every case depends on its own facts.
