KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Stacey Bennett said she's been dealing with a water leak inside her rental home for months, which has progressed into a mold problem.
She said she becomes dizzy and lightheaded in the house.
"I believe in April was the first work order I put in, then another in... October, about my floor coming up and me hearing loud noises from the water heater," Bennett said.
She showed us where the moisture has started to warp the flooring.
"The floor, you can tap it and you can see the floor moving up and down," Bennett said.
Bennett, a maintenance worker with Oakland Heights, found the problem near the water heater and down in the crawlspace.
Mold can be seen on the other side of the crawlspace door.
Bennet said she wishes she would have been relocated immediately. The property management had a crew come to suck out the water and run fans for a few days.
"It made it worse and I had breathing problems," Benett said.
Now, she's in the process of moving out. She has boxes and bags everywhere.
Looking around the rest of the home, mold isn't always visible, but the smell is undeniable. The strong odor hits as soon as one steps in the door.
"Everything is damaged," Bennett said. "I can't take anything with me."
She took pictures of all the things she had to throw out because they smelled like mold.
Bennett called her own adjuster and brought in a mold testing company that she's paying for out of pocket.
KSHB 41 News talked to the owner of MoldTestKC, Mike Devine, on Friday. Devine said no doubt, the house smells like mold.
Devine and his crew took air samples in and outside the house and will send them off to a lab, EMSL. He said he does not suggest bringing items from a mold-infested house to a new house because the mold can travel along too.
Bennett said she doesn't want to take that chance.
The property manager of Oakland Heights deferred questions to the property owners, , McCormack Baron in St. Louis, who has not responded to KSHB 41's requests for comment.
"I'm trying to follow processes and stay in compliance with both them and Section 8," Bennett said. "I want them to take responsibility. I want them to pay for all my damaged items. I had to throw so much away."
The company is moving her to another unit for 30 days while they do the repairs. She found out she won't have to pay any rent during that time, or moving expenses.
The Kansas City Housing Authority sent a crew to do an inspection Friday afternoon after KSHB 41 News called them.
The last time the housing authority did an inspection was April 23, 2021. The home passed at that time.
