‘I’ve slept in my car’: Pregnant mother, young son evicted following mold discovery before Christmas
By Caleb Wethington
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — A pregnant Nashville mother is looking for a new home over the holidays after her property manager issued her an eviction notice following her discovery of mold inside the home.
As she faces eviction, those in Nashville and beyond have responded to Morgan Hartman’s ordeal. In just five days, her GoFundMe has received more than $12,000 in donations.
“I’m being rendered homeless three days before Christmas with my 4-year-old and a baby coming any second,” Hartman said. “I’ve slept in my car some nights. I’ve been to several different hotels, I’m not just staying in the same one.”
She added that her son has been on several medications and to several different doctors since the mold discovery.
“I’ve been on the phone with Vanderbilt about my pregnancy and illness that I’m facing from all of this,” Hartman said. “It’s hard to put into words the stress that this added. I’m a high-risk pregnancy, so I’m just as likely to go in labor right this very second as I am anytime in the next four weeks.”
In July, Hartman leased a home in Antioch, and just a few weeks later, she noticed mold.
“All of my property has just been permeated with mold spores for the last month,” Hartman said.
Now, nearly five months into her lease, she’s been evicted after reporting the mold problem on multiple occasions to the property management company, Pure. The company has deemed the property uninhabitable.
“I don’t have income to show on paper. I don’t have anywhere to take my things. I don’t have money to hire a moving company. I am not physically in a condition to move my own things,” she explained.
Hartman was given two weeks to vacate the Antioch home despite the lease agreement stating that tenants would receive a 45-day notice for early termination and be accommodated up to 1.5 months of rent. At this point, Pure has only agreed to waive December’s rent.
“They’re not even willing to reimburse hotel expenses. They’ve just given me a two-week notice to vacate and left it at that,” Hartman said.
Hartman’s GoFundMe has a goal of $15,000. As of 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 27, it sits at just shy of $13,000.
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