AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – An Auburn Hills family says black mold put their kids in the hospital and at the doctor nearly a hundred times, and they say that was just one of the health nightmares they experienced inside the manufactured home they rented at Oakland Estates.
From the roof to the underbelly, Brian Bartenbaker says his home was filled with black mold, and the underbelly was rotten.
He says management refused to help.
The issue led his kids to the hospital countless times, and they’ve got the paperwork to prove it.
“Upper respiratory infection, acute,” Bartenbaker said, holding a stack of sick-visit summaries.
Bartenbaker and his family moved into the home at Oakland Estates four years ago.
He’d lived in the community years ago and decided to come back and rent.
Part of their choice to rent was because management would help with any maintenance, or so they thought.
“It’s not our problem, ‘Hey, if you lease, we don’t operate like that no more, either buy the place or move out,’” Bartenbaker said, describing what management often told him when he asked for help.
Bartenbaker says there were two undeniable issues: mold that spread and a floor that failed.
The mold got so bad that they ran an airborne test.
“When we took those tests, within seconds, these things mushroomed up. It was so disgusting,” Bartenbaker said.
Bartenbaker’s girlfriend’s mom had cancer and noticed the mold immediately. She died last summer.
“Her last wish was for us to get out of here because she knew something was wrong with this place,” Bartenbaker said.
Since the day they moved in, they say the underbelly was rotten.
“If our feet are going straight through the floor and there is no insulation,” Bartenbaker said. “So, if there is a hole in the floor, then the animal can come right through. The kids are terrified to use their own bathroom because they think they are seeing eyeballs of creatures under the trailer.”
It became a greater hazard every day.
“I came running, ‘What now?’ and all you see is her foot halfway through the floor, and it’s like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Bartenbaker said.
It got so unsafe that the family decided to leave a few weeks ago.
They say the management company wants to collect this month’s rent.
Local 4 reached out to the company that manages the manufactured home community and did not hear back.
The company has also not responded to Local 4’s requests for comment for previous stories.