What Pennsylvania Law Says About Mold, Contractors, and Your Home

Updated October 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws change, so check the linked sources and talk to a Pennsylvania attorney about your situation.

We are a Gettysburg mold company, so we run into these rules every week. We wrote this page the way we would explain it to a homeowner standing in a basement with us. Every claim links to the statute, the agency, or the court case behind it.

The Short Version

Does Pennsylvania License Mold Companies?

No. As of October 2026 we found no Pennsylvania licensing program for mold assessors or remediators, and no federal one either. A handful of states license mold work, among them Florida, Texas, New York, and Washington, DC, but Pennsylvania and Maryland do not.

That does not mean anyone can claim to be “state licensed” for mold here. If a company says that, it is a red flag. What Pennsylvania has instead is a registration system for home improvement contractors, covered next, and a set of voluntary national certifications. The one that matters most is the IICRC, whose S520 standard is the industry’s procedural standard for professional mold remediation. It is a voluntary standard, not a law, but a contract can require it.

Our owner, Chuck Dalem, holds the IICRC’s AMRT (Applied Microbial Remediation Technician) and WRT (Water Damage Restoration Technician) certifications, and we are nationally certified through the IICRC, ACAC, and NORMI. Certification proves training. It does not replace the registration, insurance, and written contract that the law requires.

The Law That Does Cover Mold Contractors

The Pennsylvania Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, known as HICPA, is Act 132 of 2008. The Attorney General enforces it. Here is what it requires, in plain terms:

• Registration. A contractor whose residential home improvement work comes to $5,000 or more in a year must register with the Attorney General. Registration renews every two years. We found no exam requirement.
• Insurance. Registrants must carry at least $50,000 in personal injury coverage and $50,000 in property damage coverage, and file proof.
• The number is everywhere. The registration number must appear on every ad, contract, estimate, and proposal.
• Complaints and checks. You can verify a contractor at hicsearch.attorneygeneral.gov or by calling 1-888-520-6680. You can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office.

Does HICPA cover mold work? The Act never uses the word mold. It covers work such as repair, replacement, remodeling, demolition, removal, and renovation on a home, for a total price of more than $500. We read that to cover any mold job where materials come out and go back in, and any contractor doing that work should treat it that way. If you are unsure about a specific job, call the Attorney General’s contractor line.

What registration does not mean. The Attorney General states that registration is not an endorsement of a contractor’s competency or skill. It tells you the company is registered and insured. It does not tell you the work will be good.

What Your Mold Contract Has to Say

A home improvement contract that does not meet HICPA’s requirements is not enforceable against you. Under section 517.7, the contract must be in writing and include:

• The contractor’s registration number, name, address, and telephone number
• Signatures from you and the contractor or salesperson, with a complete copy handed to you at signing
• The date, and approximate start and completion dates
• A description of the work, the materials, and the specifications, changeable only by a signed written change order
• The total price, or for time-and-materials work, an initial estimate and a statement that the cost cannot exceed it by more than 10 percent without a signed change order
• The down payment and any special-order material costs, listed separately
• Any subcontractors known at signing
• The insurance the contractor carries and the toll-free number to verify registration
• A notice of your right to cancel

Your right to cancel. You may rescind a home improvement contract within three business days of signing, wherever you signed it. The exception is emergency work covered by section 7 of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.

Deposits. A contractor cannot demand or take any payment before the contract is signed. On contracts over $5,000, the deposit cannot exceed one-third of the price, or one-third plus the cost of special-order materials. Older fact sheets still print $1,000 as the threshold. The Act text the Attorney General hosts says $5,000.

Clauses you can walk away from. The Act makes certain clauses voidable by you, including hold-harmless clauses, waivers of your rights under the Act, jury waivers, and automatic renewals. An arbitration clause must be in capital letters, in bold 12-point type, on a separate page with its own signature line.

How to Check a Mold Contractor Before You Sign

Run this list on any company, including us. It takes about fifteen minutes.

1. 1Check the registryName and address match the quote
2. 2Get it in writingScope and contract with the registration number
3. 3Check the depositNo more than one-third over $5,000
4. 4Use your three daysCancel within three business days
5. 5Pull permitsIf walls, wiring, or plumbing are rebuilt
6. 6Confirm the finishMoisture readings, open to independent testing

Our written scope is built to pass all eight. Compare ours to anyone’s.

Selling a Home With Mold or Water Damage

Pennsylvania’s Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law, 68 Pa.C.S. 7301 and following, puts the duty on the seller. In short:

• What you must disclose. Any “material defect” you know about. The law defines it as a problem that would have a significant adverse impact on the property’s value or involve an unreasonable risk to people on the property (section 7102).
• When. A signed, dated disclosure statement must reach the buyer before the agreement of sale is signed (section 7303).
• What you do not have to do. You are not required to investigate or inspect. You disclose what you know, and you may answer “based on the best information available” when you are unsure.
• If things change. If something you disclosed becomes inaccurate before settlement, you must notify the buyer (section 7307).

Is mold on the form? The statute and the state Real Estate Commission’s form do not use the word mold. The form asks about water leakage, dampness in the basement or crawl space, sump pumps, drainage, flooding, and plumbing leaks. Versions of the Pennsylvania Realtors form have also asked whether you know of mold tests or efforts to remediate mold. Either way, the general duty to disclose a known material defect covers it.

“As is” does not get you out. In Phelps v. Caperoon (Pa. Super. 2018), the court held that the law contains no exception for an as-is clause.

If you lie, it gets expensive. A buyer can sue for actual damages within two years after settlement under the statute (section 7311). Separately, fraud claims can reach treble damages under the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in Schwartz v. Rockey (2007), a case about a seller who hid flood damage.

A seller who knows the basement has had water is better off with a documented fix than a hidden stain. We give sellers a written scope, moisture readings, photos, and a final report. See mold inspection and testing and mold remediation.

Buying a Home With Mold or Water Damage

The disclosure form is not a warranty. It says so itself: it “is not a substitute for any inspections or warranties that the buyer may wish to obtain.” Your protection is the inspection contingency in the agreement of sale. In the standard Pennsylvania Realtors agreement, the inspection period is the number of days filled in, or 10 days if it is left blank.

Two things trip up buyers:

• A home inspection is not a mold inspection. Under the Pennsylvania Home Inspection Law, a home inspection is visual and noninvasive, and it excludes examinations limited to air and water quality and environmental hazards. If the inspector flags staining or a musty basement, bring in a mold inspector before the contingency ends.
• Ask the questions. In Blumenstock v. Gibson (Pa. Super. 2002), buyers who saw two sump pumps and never asked whether they had ever run lost their fraud claim. Ask when the water came in, what was done, and where the paperwork is.

Book your mold inspection early in the contingency period, because lab results take one to three business days. See water damage and drying if the inspection finds an active leak.

Renting: What a Landlord Owes You in Pennsylvania

No mold statute. Pennsylvania has no law specifically about mold in rentals, and none that requires a landlord to disclose mold before you sign a lease. Websites that say otherwise are wrong.

The warranty of habitability. In Pugh v. Holmes, 486 Pa. 272 (1979), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a warranty of habitability is implied in every residential lease. It covers conditions vital to the life, health, and safety of the tenant. To use it, the tenant must show:

1. The landlord had notice of the defect.
2. The landlord had a reasonable opportunity to fix it.
3. The landlord failed to fix it.

The remedies the court described include a reduction in rent for the loss of use, repair and deduct up to the rent owed, and ending the lease if the unit is uninhabitable. Mold cases are argued under habitability and negligence.

The Rent Withholding Act (35 P.S. 1700-1) is a separate route. A city’s licensing department, or a county health department in some summaries, certifies a dwelling unfit for habitation, and the rent goes into escrow. If you live in a borough, get advice before you stop paying anything.

What helps in any case:

• Send written notice and keep a copy
• Take dated photos
• Ask your borough or township code office to inspect. Gettysburg and New Oxford have both adopted the 2015 International Property Maintenance Code and enforce it through their code offices. The Gettysburg Borough office is at 59 East High Street, (717) 334-1160.
• Do not stop paying rent without talking to a tenant attorney or legal aid first

Permits and Historic District Rules

Building permits. Pennsylvania’s Uniform Construction Code applies in most municipalities. Gettysburg Borough administers it with a third-party agency and lists its permit process on its permits page. Under 34 Pa. Code 403.62, a permit is needed to build, alter, repair, or demolish a residential building. Ordinary repairs are exempt, but structural work, electrical, plumbing, gas, and mechanical systems are not.

We found no rule that says cleaning and removing mold, by itself, needs a permit. Rebuilding often does. If a wall has to be reframed or a plumbing line replaced, call your code office first.

Gettysburg’s historic district. The borough says all exterior improvements in the Gettysburg Historic District, large or small, need a Certificate of Appropriateness before work begins. The Historic Preservation Officer can approve minor projects and like-for-like material changes. The Historic Architectural Review Board handles larger projects and meets on the third Wednesday of the month. The language we found refers to exterior work, and none of it addresses interior mold cleanup. Mold work happens inside, so it rarely touches this. A downspout, regrading, or window repair outside can.

Taneytown, Maryland. Taneytown’s design standards apply to work that requires a building permit in its historic district. See the Maryland section below.

Lead and Asbestos in Older Pennsylvania Houses

Mold removal means tearing out drywall, plaster, trim, and insulation, and in a house built in the 1970s or earlier, those materials can carry lead paint or asbestos. Two sets of rules matter.

Lead. EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, 40 CFR Part 745, applies to paid work in homes built before 1978 that disturbs painted surfaces. The minor-repair exemption covers 6 square feet or less of interior paint per room, and it excludes demolition of painted surfaces. Tearing out painted drywall or plaster is demolition, and that is how we read the rule: a contractor doing it for pay in a pre-1978 home needs to work as an RRP-certified firm. The rule does not apply to homeowners working on their own homes. See EPA’s overview.

Asbestos. The Pennsylvania DEP says it does not regulate removing asbestos-containing material from private residences unless the building is an apartment with five or more units. Federal demolition and renovation notification rules (40 CFR 61 Subpart M) apply to buildings with more than four dwelling units. That means a single-family house is mostly outside the notification rules. It does not mean the material is harmless. Plaster, vermiculite insulation, floor tile, and duct wrap in older houses are the usual suspects. Our recommendation, not a legal rule, is to test suspect materials before demolition. See DEP’s asbestos page.

Ask any contractor how they handle both before the demo starts. A good one has an answer.

Homeowners Insurance and Mold

Most standard policies treat mold as a maintenance problem, not a covered loss. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s homeowners guide lists “mold; fungus; wet rot” under what is not covered. The Insurance Information Institute adds the other half: when mold is the direct result of a covered peril, such as a burst pipe, the cost of cleaning it up may be covered. Slow leaks, chronic humidity, and neglect are usually excluded. Some policies carry a limited-fungi endorsement with a dollar cap, and exact terms are policy-specific, so read yours.

What the Insurance Department tells you to do. Take photos and video before you clean up, make the repairs necessary to stop further damage, keep every receipt, and do not make permanent repairs until your insurer approves them. Get more than one estimate.

Claim deadlines in the Pennsylvania Code (31 Pa. Code 146.5 to 146.7):

• 10 working days to acknowledge your notice of claim
• 30 days to complete the investigation, or a written explanation of the delay and an update every 45 days
• 15 working days to accept or deny once you file proof of loss

If your insurer acts in bad faith, 42 Pa.C.S. 8371 lets a court award interest, punitive damages, and attorney fees. You can call the Insurance Department’s consumer line at 1-877-881-6388.

Who can negotiate your claim. Only a licensed public adjuster. The Insurance Department says a public adjuster who is also a contractor needs two separate contracts. A mold company can document the damage. We give you photos, moisture readings, a line-item scope, and the invoice, and we do not negotiate claims or promise coverage. Standard homeowners policies also exclude flood.

What the Federal Government Says About Mold

• No limits. EPA states that no federal limits have been set for mold or mold spores, and that it does not regulate mold in indoor air.
• The 10-square-foot guide. EPA says a moldy area smaller than about 10 square feet, roughly a 3 by 3 foot patch, can often be handled by the homeowner. Call a professional for significant water damage, a possibly contaminated HVAC system, sewage, or if anyone in the house has health concerns, and talk to your doctor about symptoms. See Mold Cleanup in Your Home.
• Testing. CDC does not recommend routine mold testing, because there are no set standards for what is and is not an acceptable amount. See CDC’s mold page.
• Black mold. Color does not identify the species, and cleanup is the same for every mold. See black mold removal.

Taneytown and Maryland Law

We serve Taneytown, Maryland, and the rules there are different.

• No mold license in Maryland. But the Maryland Home Improvement Commission licenses home improvement contractors, and its definition includes repair work. Whether mold remediation alone counts is not settled in the sources we found. In Taneytown we do inspection, testing, drying, and mold remediation, and we do not offer drywall, flooring, or paint repairs there.
• Insurance. The Maryland Insurance Administration says contractors may not perform a public adjuster’s duties unless they are also licensed as one. On Maryland jobs we document the damage and that is all.
• Renters. Maryland’s Tenant Mold Protection Act took effect July 1, 2025. Landlords must give tenants a mold pamphlet when the lease is signed, begin a mold assessment within 15 days of written notice, and complete remediation within 45 days after the assessment, or within a reasonable time if that is not feasible. Maryland also has a rent escrow process for serious and dangerous conditions in Real Property 8-211. Read the Act.
• Historic district. Taneytown’s design standards apply to work that needs a building permit in its historic district.

What Other Websites Get Wrong

We checked the pages that rank for these searches against the statutes. These are the mistakes we found most often.

Who to Call in Adams County

These are the offices that come up most when a Gettysburg-area homeowner has a mold, permit, or contractor question. We pulled the numbers from each office’s own website in October 2026. Call ahead, because staff and hours change.

Outside the borough, your township sets its own permit and code process. If you live in Cumberland, Straban, Mount Joy, Freedom, or another surrounding township, call the township office first, because the borough numbers above will not apply.

Sources

Checked October 2026. Where a primary source blocked our access, the page says so in the text.

• Pennsylvania Attorney General, Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act (Act 132 of 2008) and contractor registry
• 68 Pa.C.S. 7102, 7303, 7307, 7311 (Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law) and 68 Pa.C.S. 7501 and following (Home Inspection Law)
• Pugh v. Holmes, 486 Pa. 272, 405 A.2d 897 (1979)
• 35 P.S. 1700-1 (Rent Withholding Act)
• 31 Pa. Code 146.5 to 146.7 and 42 Pa.C.S. 8371
• Pennsylvania Insurance Department, public adjusters; Insurance Information Institute, protecting your home from mold
• Gettysburg Borough permits and Certificate of Appropriateness; 34 Pa. Code 403.62
• EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home, Mold Cleanup in Your Home, and Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program
• CDC, Mold and Your Health
• Pennsylvania DEP, Asbestos
• IICRC, ANSI/IICRC S520 Standard for Professional Mold Remediation
• Adams County, Recorder of Deeds and county locations; Gettysburg Borough, Planning, Zoning, and Code Enforcement; Pennsylvania Attorney General, consumer complaints
• Maryland, Tenant Mold Protection Act (Chapter 539, 2025)

Talk to Us Before You Sign Anything

If you have mold, water damage, or a contract in front of you and you want a straight read on it, call (267) 828-9088. We will tell you what we see, what it takes, and when you do not need us. The process is on our mold remediation page, the numbers are on the cost page, and the rest of what we do is on the home page.

Gettysburg Mold Remediation Pros is a locally owned mold company at 498 Wye Alley, Gettysburg, PA 17325, (267) 828-9088, owned by Chuck Dalem, founded in 2012, and IICRC AMRT and WRT certified.