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Family forced from mold-infested home, now living in hotel
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BATON ROUGE - A woman reached out to 2 On Your Side after saying her communication with her landlord had deteriorated. Officials declared her home uninhabitable.
Charlisha Grant is living in a one-bedroom hotel room with her three children. It costs them $67 a day. It's her only option right now, since her home is covered in mold has water damage from a leaking HVAC.
They moved out of the house in early July after her son started to get sick from the mold inside the house.
"I knew something was unsafe," she said.
Grant says the problems actually started in February, when a water spot appeared on the ceiling. Grant says she contacted her landlord, letting him know about the wet areas on the ceiling, walls, and the mold.
In May, the ceiling in her bathroom fell down, scattering insulation all over the floor. Now, in August, the smell inside the house has grown horrific. It seems mold has grown throughout and the ceiling has collapsed in multiple rooms. Grant says she isn't sure what to do next but needs to find a new home.
"A safe place to put my kids, not to have my new child in a hotel," she said.
Grant is expecting another child in December.
Her landlord serves as a deacon at a Baton Rouge church. When he spoke with Brittany Weiss on the phone, he says the ceiling didn't fall until late June or July and that Grant owes four months' rent. He says the issue wasn't communicated to him in a timely manner.
Grant showed WBRZ her receipt for her May rent and a photo with a May 19 time stamp of when the ceiling fell down.
"I wish he would fix the house because I love it, but I knew he's not; we're going to have to move, but where?"
The landlord says he is trying to help Grant, but now he's facing a mess of his home and is out rental income.
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