Montgomery County man says apartment management not fixing mold, mice problems

WHEATON-GLENMONT, Md. (DC News Now) — A Montgomery County man says his apartment is infested with mice and black mold. He says he’s been dealing with the issues for months with no concrete solutions.

Anthony Jones says he’s tried to go to management as well as Montgomery County officials but still, the problems of his mold and mice in his apartment haven’t been fixed yet.

At the Warwick Apartments, Jones has resorted to covering his vents with steel wool and duct tape as he deals with a persistent mice issue.

“We hear them in the walls, climbing up the walls all the time. You know, it’s it’s quite an issue,” Jones said.

He’s also dealing with water leaking from his air conditioning units and from the ceiling which created black mold in the closet of his second bedroom.

“The one time they came into the apartment to deal with the drywall, they pulled it out, replaced it, and the leak wasn’t even fixed yet,” Jones said.

Eventually, they fixed the leak, but not the drywall he said.

“There’s no reason to live with this, you know, whether it be mold issues, mice issues, any issue that is beyond the standards of living that we are given by law,” Jones said.

When Jones said the apartment management wasn’t helping, he contacted 3-1-1, which opened a case with the Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

He said an inspector did come, but closed the case shortly after.

“We had to contact the housing code enforcer that came here and ask him, you know, why was it closed?” Jones said. “And he told us that if he were to leave open every mice infestation case for this building in particular, that cases would remain open for 16 years.”

A county spokesperson said in a statement, “After receiving the complaint from the tenant and conducting an inspection in July, the Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) notified the landlord of the violations. The tenant and landlord could not agree on protocols to access the unit so that the repairs could be made. DHCA has been working with the tenant and the landlord to ensure repairs are made and that follow-up remediation and extermination happen.”

Jones said after an HVAC installation in March, contractors told them there was no asbestos detected but he asked the property manager for the results of that test. He said it took several months but they did receive the results that showed the asbestos test was positive.

He said they requested they discovered the asbestos test was positive.

“Portions of it were removed right under our noses without proper protocol. Our requests for proper PPE, polyurethane sheeting, and air purification devices are not unfounded in this kind of scenario. However, the Warwick refuses to even acknowledge the fact that we were sent this positive result,” Jones said.

The Donaldson Group, which manages The Warwick Apartments did not respond to DC News Now’s request for comment.

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