‘I can’t leave my stuff in this house’: Valdosta mom claims rental home mold ruined her furniture

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - A Valdosta mother said the mold inside her rental home is so bad it damaged her furniture and forced her family into a hotel for the holidays.

The mother of three who’s been living in the home for three months now said her livelihood is at stake. She says she and her children spent Christmas in a hotel and are currently still in a hotel because of a mold-infested home.

Mashika Daniel said she and her kids moved into the Wellington Rowell Property three months ago. She said the first month of living in the home was okay. Then she noticed her living room rug was turning white. When she lifted the rug, she saw nothing but mildew and mold.

“After I lift that up, I just started looking at my furniture. I moved the couch, the couch had mold, mildew. The kid’s clothes, their toys, their mattresses. I lift the pillows up, the pillows. And I knew it happened quickly because I had just washed the sheets and stuff the Friday before. And then when we came back from my mom’s house over the weekend, that Monday, I saw the carpet. And I’m like something is not right,” Daniel said.

Daniel said pretty much everything in the home is damaged. She said property management took $150 off her rent because she purchased cleaning supplies to try and clean it, but it keeps coming back.

“Look, this is not fixing the problem. I can’t leave my stuff in this house because me leaving my stuff in this house is going to cause more damage to it. So I called code enforcement and code enforcement is the one that came and put the notice on the window. And they said there are several leaks in the home, termites are biting the wood out. The house is not in a good condition for anybody to be in,” Daniel said.

The code enforcement notice is a stop order, addressing plumbing and other problems causing moisture in the home.

WALB News 10 spoke with Wellington Rowell’s attorney Zachary Cowart and he said they have offered Daniel a place to live, her December rent back, her security deposit and they will have someone come clean all of her belongings.

“Everything. Before I got here, I got here three months ago, I purchased all brand-new furniture. All of that needs to be reimbursed. But they’re not willing to do that. They’re willing to offer me $500, and to move me to another location. That’s not enough because I can move to another location. But now, I have no mattresses, no furniture. Nothing,” Daniel said.

Daniel said she deserves to be reimbursed $10,000. She said that will cover all of the damaged property in her home.

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