Ontario mother still paying rent, despite not being able to live in mouldy home

A Cambridge, Ont. woman has been renting a home for six months but hasn’t been able to live in it.

Shortly after Lindsay McCarthy, a mother of three, moved into the home she started to notice black mould.

An environmental assessment later confirmed her suspicions.

“Some of it is airborne and some of it is surface,” McCarthy explained. “The airborne [mould] is extremely toxic to humans.”

CTV News obtained a copy of the mould assessment. It stated there were at least five types of mould found in the home in areas like the garage, bathroom, dishwasher and attic.

Mould at a Cambridge, Ont. home on Aug. 30, 2024. (Heather Senoran/CTV News)

McCarthy worries the mould will be especially harmful for those who are immunocompromised, like herself and one of her daughters.

“She can't be in the house for more than a couple of minutes without her tongue starting to swell up in the back of her throat, getting itchy and just feeling unwell,” McCarthy explained.

She said they spent a couple weeks in the home in February, painting it and moving their stuff in.

Then she got extremely sick.

“I was coughing and coughing. I ended up getting a CT scan on my torso and I have scarring in the bottom of the right side of my lung,” McCarthy said.

She believes it’s because of the mould.

She’s due for another CT scan at the end of September.

Remediation woes

McCarthy said she brought up the mould issue with her landlord right away.

At first, she said, he was willing to help.

“Once he started to see the costs of relocating us and storing all of our belongings and actually getting us out of the house so the mould be remediated – then he backed off and wasn't helping us at all,” she explained.

Then in April he hired a property management team.

McCarthy said she’s been dealing with them ever since – but it hasn’t been easy to get answers.

“I'm so upset. I, honestly, I don't know how this man sleeps at night.”

McCarthy claimed remediation teams were supposed to help on two occasions, but were then cancelled.

The Landlord Tenant Board will look into her case but that won’t happen, she said, until October.

The property management team, Royal York Property Management, sent CTV News a statement. It said, in part: “We take any concerns related to mould very seriously, and this case is currently under review by the Landlord and Tenant Board. We are diligently working to resolve the issue and are hopeful for the tenants' cooperation.”

McCarthy and her children are staying with her dad for now, but admits having four people in one room isn’t ideal.

“My hope is that immediately he does the right thing and comes in and starts the remediation work and the repairs, that he relocates us to a proper place while that's being done, including the pets,” she said.

Lindsay McCarthy and her three kids stand outside their Cambridge, Ont. home. (Heather Senoran/CTV News)

According to the City of Cambridge, staff have been in contact with the property owner but can’t comment on open investigations.

“In cases where a property owner fails to undertake the required work by the deadline set in an order, the city will hire a contractor to do the necessary work to bring the property into compliance. We encourage tenants to cooperate with landlords when remedial work is required,” said a City of Cambridge spokesperson.

Tenant advocate reacts

Megan Walker is a tenant advocate with Social Development Centre Waterloo Region.

She said McCarthy’s situation is similar to other cases she’s heard about locally.

“The market is so strained and there's nowhere else to go,” Walker said. “That’s why these landlords are getting away with it.”

She would like to see bylaws in place to protect tenants like McCarthy.

“Landlord licensing would be useful as well so that this person could not continue to let this house or rent this house to other people. We should have a registry of bad landlords,” Walker said.

McCarthy wants to be compensated for the rent she’s had to pay, her accommodation covered and that her home is fixed soon.

She also hopes there are no long-term health concerns from the mould.

McCarthy said the home seemed like the perfect place for her family, before the mould, and is hoping to move on to a place that’s safe – and soon.

“I want some sense of peace. I want to be able to relax just like everybody does,” she said. “I'm paying for a home. I've done everything I can.”