Mr. Alexis / Bob,
As you may know the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and specifically the home and mold licensing units, are tasked with licensing and regulating home inspectors and mold related services statutes created by the legislature. The exemption written into Chapter 468.841(d), Florida Statute, states:
(1)The following persons are not required to comply with any provisions of this part relating to mold assessment:
(a)A residential property owner who performs mold assessment on his or her own property.
(b)A person who performs mold assessment on property owned or leased by the person, the person’s employer, or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership, or on property operated or managed by the person’s employer or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership. This exemption does not apply if the person, employer, or affiliated entity engages in the business of performing mold assessment for the public.
(c)An employee of a mold assessor while directly supervised by the mold assessor.
(d)Persons or business organizations acting within the scope of the respective licenses required under part XV of this chapter (This Chapter is referring to chapter 468 Part XV which is the chapter that regulates home inspectors), chapter 471, part I or part II of chapter 481, chapter 482, or chapter 489 are acting on behalf of an insurer under part VI of chapter 626, or are persons in the manufactured housing industry who are licensed under chapter 320, except when any such persons or business organizations hold themselves out for hire to the public as a “certified mold assessor,” “registered mold assessor,” “licensed mold assessor,” “mold assessor,” “professional mold assessor,” or any combination thereof stating or implying licensure under this part.
(e)An authorized employee of the United States, this state, or any municipality, county, or other political subdivision, or public or private school and who is conducting mold assessment within the scope of that employment, as long as the employee does not hold out for hire to the general public or otherwise engage in mold assessment.
(2)The following persons are not required to comply with any provisions of this part relating to mold remediation:
(a) A residential property owner who performs mold remediation on his or her own property.
(b)A person who performs mold remediation on property owned or leased by the person, the person’s employer, or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership, or on property operated or managed by the person’s employer or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership. This exemption does not apply if the person, employer, or affiliated entity engages in the business of performing mold remediation for the public.
(c) An employee of a mold remediator while directly supervised by the mold remediator.
(d)Persons or business organizations that are acting within the scope of the respective licenses required under chapter 471, part I of chapter 481, chapter 482, chapter 489, or part XV of this chapter, are acting on behalf of an insurer under part VI of chapter 626, or are persons in the manufactured housing industry who are licensed under chapter 320, except when any such persons or business organizations hold themselves out for hire to the public as a “certified mold remediator,” “registered mold remediator,” “licensed mold remediator,” “mold remediator,” “professional mold remediator,” or any combination thereof stating or implying licensure under this part.
(e)An authorized employee of the United States, this state, or any municipality, county, or other political subdivision, or public or private school and who is conducting mold remediation within the scope of that employment, as long as the employee does not hold out for hire to the general public or otherwise engage in mold remediation.
Although the department does not view mold sampling (which is part of an assessment) or remediation as being within the scope of a home inspector’s license anyone can sample and or remediate mold growth that is less than 10 sq. feet . Only a laboratory can actually test for mold. Since a mold assessment and remediation are defined by statute as mold growth greater then 10 sq. feet and don’t address mold growth under 10 sq, feet , the statues do not grant authority for the department to regulate the sampling, testing or remediation of mold growth less than 10 sq. feet. If someone was told that it was acceptable for a home inspector to test for mold it should have added that the mold growth needed to be less than10 sq. feet. To ensure that complaints are being addressed properly they have to be delta with on a case by case basis. If you whish to file a complaint and have us look into the details of what you have written about, please see our website for a complaint form…