If Passed, This Bill Would Strengthen Protections for Virginia Renters Exposed to Mold

Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, wants to strengthen tenant protection laws for renters whose living conditions include mold.

Price pitched a bill to do so in 2025, and it is due to be deliberated again in the upcoming 2027 legislative session.

The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act already requires landlords to try to prevent mold formation in their units and promptly remedy it when it is brought to their attention.

Current state law also mandates  landlords  provide tenants a comparable unit within their property or a hotel room for up to 30 days, but property owners are not required to pay for other expenses that arise after the relocation period.

Those expenses can include additional transportation costs, lost wages, or replacing tenants’ damaged property.

Price’s bill would adjust state law with additional guidance for landlords and tenants when dealing with mold abatement and support residents in recovering losses if they can prove damages.

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Price relayed how a constituent had to throw away all of her clothes after discovering  mold in the closet of her newly-constructed apartment, “so obviously it wasn’t something she was doing (that caused the mold),” Price said.

Personal injury lawyer Jonathan Halperin noted that the past version of the bill may have made it harder for tenants to prove negligence of their landlords.

While her bill intends to support residents being able to bring legal action against landlords for mold exposure, property damage claims, recoup attorney fees, or to recover medical bills that stem from mold exposure, the current draft would make those awards based on gross or willful negligence.

Gross or willful negligence would include examples of instances where a landlord ignores mold abatement requests or paints over it rather than professionally having it removed.

“The way this is written… it basically heightens what the plaintiff needs to prove from simple negligence to gross negligence. Price may not have intended that,” he said.

Price admits there is still room for improvement.

“The bill that we tried was a big swing and would have really had much farther-reaching ramifications in the legal system,” Price explained. “It didn’t have the support it needed to move through both chambers, but we’re going to tailor it more.”

Further workshopping with her peers, she said, may be able to get it to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk this time.

Halperin suggested Price’s revamped bill could apply ordinary negligence to compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees, while gross negligence or willful negligence could apply to punitive damages.

He agreed with Price that Virginia’s mold remediation laws could be stronger and commended her for seeking to change them.

Price and Halperin noted that mold causation is complex and can occur for a variety of reasons. Halperin pointed to constant humidity and poor ventilation, faulty HVAC units, storm damage, or leaks from neighboring apartments into other units.

“I do understand that … molds can happen when it’s ‘no fault of anyone,’ but at the same time that means that it’s not the fault of the renter either,” Price said.

By Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury

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