Quick answer
Mold work in University Heights is mostly apartment work in older walk-up and elevator buildings, much of it after a tenant has called 311. The usual causes are leaking risers, bathroom plumbing that drips into the unit below, roof leaks on top floors and winter condensation. We trace the water with the owner or super, contain the work area, remove the growth, dry the framing and keep the records an HPD reinspection asks for.
Updated September 2026
Local conditions
Why so many mold complaints come from here
Counted by 311 complaints from 2017 to 2022, the neighborhoods with the most mold reports were Fordham Heights with about 656 a year, Flatbush with about 500, University Heights with 468, Tremont with about 438 and Belmont with about 427. Four of those five are in the Bronx, and University Heights sits right next to the top one.
The Bronx as a whole had the most mold complaints of any borough every year since 2019, about 112 per 10,000 renter-occupied units in 2023. Complaints peaked in September 2021, the month Ida flooded basements across the city, and they run higher every fall and winter when windows stay shut.
Those complaints turn into violations with deadlines. Local Law 55 requires owners of buildings with three or more apartments to inspect for mold every year and fix the cause, and HPD gives a mold violation 90, 60 or 24 hours to correct depending on its size.
Jobs we do most in University Heights
Tenant complaints and owner deadlines drive most of our work here. Each job has its own page.
HPD Mold Violation Remediation
Correcting open violations, cause first, with records for reinspection.
Apartment Mold Remediation
Containment and removal inside occupied units, with hallways protected.
Hidden Leak Detection
Tracing a ceiling or wall stain to the riser or the unit above.
Bathroom Mold Removal
Growth behind tile and in the ceiling under old bathroom plumbing.
Window Condensation Mold Removal
Black spotting on sills and cold exterior walls in winter.
Musty Odor Removal
Finding the hidden source when an apartment smells musty.
Working on complaint-driven jobs
When a job starts from a 311 complaint, the tenant and the owner both need to see what was found. We take moisture readings and photos before anything is opened, write down the cause, and share the same record with both sides.
If the water comes from a shared riser or another apartment, we tell the owner exactly where, so the repair is done once. Then we remove the mold in each affected unit inside sealed containment and leave the area clean and dry.
More in The Bronx
Nearby areas we also cover
Concourse & Highbridge Tremont & Belmont Mott Haven & Melrose All coverage
Questions from University Heights
HPD may inspect and issue a violation. The owner then has to fix the cause and remove the mold by the deadline.
Usually yes. The work area is sealed off from the rest of the apartment and cleaned every day.
The water feeding it has not stopped, often a leak from the bathroom above. Fix that and the mold stays gone.
Under 10 units, an owner may use their own trained staff, but the cause still has to be fixed.