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Ok, I am finally making progress with the MERP situation on my parents' home. I received the CMA (comparative market analysis) back today, and the CMA on the home came in at $12,000-$14,900. So, with any luck, the state *might* waive recovery. My question is this: if the state knows there is mold in the basement of the house, will they report that to the county, resulting in possible condemnation of the property? Someone mentioned this to me, so now I'm worried about *that*. Not like I needed anything else to worry about with this situation.

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Doubt that it would be reported. Your info is generally confidential.
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Surprise, Susan, her daughter and grandkids ARE living there already. Susan is trying to get MERP to back off on claiming her mother's house until she can make arrangements to dig herself out of the financial hole that caregiving and keeping her Mom home as long as possible left her in.
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Susan, there are different types of mold. The really bad black mold smells like rotting leaves. The others molds have a tamer odor. The mild molds probably can be cleaned up with a product that has Clorox. Check on the internet to see what works best.

Is there any way of airing out the basement? Sunshine works great :)
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Thanks everyone!

surprise - what Guestshop advised you of is correct. We are already living in the house. It is liveable, but has problems. The basement leak and mold issue has been ongoing for decades. No one "lives" in the basement, as it's not at all safe due to the dampness, mold and leaks - plus there are no egress windows, so if there were a fire, no one would get out of there alive if they got blocked from the stairway. It's simply storage (in the ONE room in the basement that is useable for storage). So I'd like to avoid condemnation of the house so I can deal with MERP and still live here until that's over.

Guestshop - thanks for posting that. :-)

FF - the basement has always had a musty smell because it's damp down there and has a concrete floor, so it's always smelled kind of musty and that smell comes up the stairs sometimes. (My nieces actually love that smell, they say it smells like Grandma's house...how sad is that...)
I wish sunshine and fresh air were an option in the basement. There are a grand total of 4 windows in the whole basement and they are all about 18" wide by 10" high - they are vent windows only, nothing that anyone would be able to exit out of if there was a fire, and on top of that, they're all boarded up, so they can't even be opened to let air in. So any cleaning done down there with bleach, etc is going to require a venting system through one of the windows or a rented ventilation system that vents via a hose up the stairs and out the door.

Not an easy situation at all. I don't think my parents realized what a mess they were leaving for whoever ended up with the house. If I had the money to completely renovate the house and take care of all the problems, change the appearance so it was MY house and not so similar to the house where so much abuse occurred (bad memories around every corner)....then I would be happy to stay here. As it is now, there are just so many expensive problems to fix that I can't afford to make the upgrades I'd like to - I'm too busy throwing money at the problems that need to be repaired immediately (like the roof).
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If the county condemned it, so what? You would still be need to do serious work before living there. Your building inspector will have to issue a certificate of occupancy before the power is turned on again, and that requires an inspection. If he finds it, he may require a rehab too.

We asked our building inspector to condemn mthr's house so we could tear it down. He taught us the procedure in that state, and instead issued us a letter saying it would be eligible for condemnation proceedings because of its condition. In a proceeding, they do everything they can to get the owner to clean up the property before the county condemns it. If the city is left with the property because the owner quits paying taxes, the city can't afford to clean up or tear down the property. They really want you to clean it up on your own.

In my case, mthr was a hoarder and ruined the house. It's not that uncommon - people can break the joists from the weight of junk, and if they are a wet hoarded, ewww. The whole floor (and ceiling) rots out. It was pretty bad, and now it's a beautiful span of grass.
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