"Black mold in my AC left me with burning skin - I spent $10k replacing my things"

A woman says black mold in her apartment's air conditioning unit left her suffering from "burning" skin - and left her forking out $10k to move and replace her things. Autumn Clayman, 29, started suffering from a burning sensation around her face and began to see red marks appear on her skin shortly after moving into her new apartment in Los Angeles, California, in February 2024. Unable to sleep properly, she then started developing eczema on the affected red areas and her allergies were flaring up. Unsure of what was causing this sudden change, Autumn cut out certain foods to see if things improved but they didn't. By June of this year, Autumn's flare ups got worse and she was sure it was something in her apartment. She stayed at her boyfriend's for two weeks - during which time her symptoms began to ease. Feeling confident it was her apartment that was causing her problems, Autumn paid $780 for testing. Results showed she had black mold in both of her air conditioning units - which had been blasting cold air throughout the apartment. Her landlord apologised and performed two deep cleans of the apartment before Autumn moved back in but she says her symptoms started again within days. She was eventually able to get out of her lease and moved into a new apartment in September. She estimates she spent $10k replacing contaminated furniture and clothes, on medical appointments for her skin and mold tests.