霉污引出的房租纠纷

张女士因租金与其公寓房东发生纠纷而使其信用记录受损。受此不良记录拖累，她的按揭贷款申请被大银行拒绝，因此而被迫寻求其他利率更高的贷款。

Ms. Zhang had a rent dispute with her apartment landlord, which has led to a poor record in her credit file.  Because of this record, her mortgage loan was rejected by a major bank, and she was forced to seek alternative loan with higher interest rate.

张女士与房东的纠纷源于其租住的公寓出现霉污。

The issue? Mould in the apartment.

在2006年，张带着10岁的儿子搬进多伦多的一栋公寓大楼。在2008年，张女士发现房间里出现霉污。

In 2006, Zhang moved to an apartment building in Toronto with her 10 year old son. In 2008, Zhang found mould in her apartment.

带毒霉菌会污染空气质量，并会带来严重的健康问题。据张称，发现问题后，她迅速向房东报告，但是问题却一直未有得到解决。由于担心儿子的健康受到影响，张女士在2008年8月致信房东，表示由于问题得不到解决，她希望在当年9月搬离。

Toxic mould damages air quality, and can even cause serious health problems. According to Zhang, she quickly reported the problem to the landlord, but the problem didn’t get fixed. Worrying about the health implication on her son, Zhang wrote to her landlord in August of2008, in which she said she hoped to move out in September due to the ongoing problems.

张女士称：“虽然我再三要求，但房东却一直置之不理……我别无选择只能搬家。”

“The landlord just ignored my repeated requests… I had no choice but to move out,” said Zhang.

张女士在当年7月向房东发出上述信件后，于当年9月搬离公寓。

Zhang moved out of the unit in September after sending a written letter to the landlord in July.

张认为她的这封信件可以作为一份有效的搬出通知，因为她已在信中表明自己希望在9月搬离。但是令她始料未及的是，这封信导致她和房东的纠纷进一步恶化，并最终令其财务信用受损。

She assumed that the letter, which stated that she hoped to move out in September, would serve as a valid notice.  But she never expected that this letter has led to a further dispute with the landlord down the road, which eventually left her grappling with bad credit issues.

张女士称：“虽然我再三向他们提出发霉问题，但他们一直置之不理，在我们搬离时，这套公寓的情况已经非常糟糕，根本不适合安全居住，而我们是被迫搬离。”

“They never addressed the mould problem that I had raised repeatedly with them… At the time when we moved out, the housing conditions were very harmful and the apartment was unsafe to live in… We were basically forced to move out,” said Zhang.

张在收到房东的回信后感到震惊不已。该信中不但丝毫未提及房间内的霉污，并且通知她7月发送的信件不能作为有效的60天通知。他们挑眼张在信中所用的“希望”一词，称“希望”搬家的说法不可作为正式搬家通知。

Zhang was shocked when she received the landlord’s response to her letter.  Putting the mould issues aside, the landlord informed that her July letter wasn’t accepted as a proper 60-day notice. They nitpicked on the word “hope” she used in the letter, saying it did not specify her decision to move out.

此外，房东还要求张女士继续支付两个月的房租。

The landlord further told her she would be held responsible for the two months’ rent.

在张女士拒绝支付房东要求的房租后，房东找了一家讨债公司追讨租金。讨债公司于2010年联系了Equifax，将所谓的$1680元欠债记录载入张女士的信用报告。

As Zhang refused to pay for the rent requested, the landlord handed her balance to a collection agency. In 2010, the collection agency contacted Equifax and put an unpaid balance of $1680 into Zhang’s credit report.

在2013年，讨债公司又联系张，提出只要张支付$840元并可将欠债一笔勾销。

In 2013, Zhang was contacted by the collection agency, offering her $840 to settle the dispute.

但张断然拒绝了讨债公司的要求。她表示：“我无法接受这一提议……我没有做错任何事情。房东对我清理霉污的要求置之不理，而我为什么要向他们支付这笔费用？”

But Zhang refused the offer. “It’s a deal I cannot accept… I did nothing wrong. Why should I pay the landlord who ignored my request to fix the mould problem?”

实际上，要求房东清除霉菌远不像张女士所想的那么简单。导致房屋发霉的原因有很多，在某些情况下，房屋发霉并不是房东的责任，而是由租客的不良生活习惯造成的。

In fact, asking her landlord to clean the mould is a much more complicated process than what Zhang assumed. There are many reasons that can cause mould to grow. In some cases, it is the landlord’s responsibilities, whereas in others, it is caused by unhealthy living habits of the tenants.

通常在碰到类似情况时，租客可以联系安省房东及租客委员会寻求霉菌清除令。盖清除令可以要求房东解决霉菌问题，以保证房屋“适宜居住”。但获得清除令并非易于翻掌。在寻求清除令时，租客不仅需要提供房屋霉迹的图片，还必需提供大量证据向委员会证明房屋发霉是房东的责任。想要获取清除令，租客必需证明他们已经竭尽所能清除房屋里的霉菌，包括清洗墙壁，开窗户通风，安装除湿机和打开风扇等。

Tenants can contact the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board, seeking a mould cleaning order – which requests the landlord to fix the problem and make the unit “fit for habitation”. But they need to prove to the board that the mould is the responsibility of a landlord. A lot of evidence, more than just a picture of the mould, is required. To get such an order, tenants need to show that they’ve done everything on their part to try and eliminate the mould– including washing walls, opening windows, installing a dehumidifier and operating a fan.

在张未申请霉菌清除令的情况下，其房东拒绝采取任何行动不足为奇。但是如果张女士了解上述程序，那她可能就会采取不同的方法解决这一问题；她甚至可能会避免了这一不良记录，并支付了房东提出的那笔和解资金。

It is unsurprising that without such an order, Zhang’s landlord has refused to take any actions. But had Zhang been aware of the above process, she might have taken a different approach to address the problem; she might have kept an impeccable credit record, or accepted the deal from the landlord.