Question
Help. I'm having a dispute with my landlord and I need some advice.?
For 2 weeks now we have been notifying management about our refrigerator leaking water inside and in the back of it, but It has not been fixed. Friday October 2nd, 2009 maintenance came to look at it and placed a bowel into to refrigerator to see if It was leaking and said they would be back monday October 5th, 2009 to check on it. We notified management the bowel was full and still leaking Monday at 10:00am and no one showed up. Because of the constant leakage black mold is starting to grow behind the refrigerator. We have a one year old so this is unacceptable. On Wednesday October 7th, 2009 (a week after we first complained) they attempted to fix the refrigerator, however they did not clean the "Black Mold" resulting from the days of refrigerator leakage. Today is October 13th, 2009 and the "Black Mold" is still there. Today, (October 13th, 2009), our refrigerator is still leaking some water. I recieved a message from my landlord that she would be sending someone over, and they will let there self in to fix the refrigerator, (after I called and demanded to speak with her supervisor) But no one came. Not to mention the fact that I demanded to speak with her supervisor 4 times and she refused to give me her number. We feel we were discriminated against because of our age. We are 18 and 19 and this is our first apartment. We were instructed to sign our lease before we even had a chance to look at our apartment. When we got into our apartment is was dirty, unclean and completely not like the apartment we were shown before deciding we wanted to move here. Had we have seen the condition of the apartment before we signed the lease we would have never have moved here. Once we signed the lease we were binded by contract and could not move. We are dissatisfied with the quality of life provided to us by The Apartments. We were given an unclean apartment and are surrounded by noisy neighbors. The environment in our apartment is substandard, specifically with regard to the noises generated by neighboring units and the ongoing outside traffic. Not to mention management never returns our calls nor do they respond to our maintenance emergency's. Because of the treatment we have experienced here, the uncleaned "black mold", and the exceptionally loud neighbors (dispite our complaints) we want to terminate or lease 3 months early. After serving our apartment manager with our 30 day notice on October 5th, 2009, we still havent heard anything from them. When I called the manager and asked what was going on, I got an attitude from her. Thats when I demanded to speak with her supervisor and she refused 4 times. I reported my incident to fair housing yesterday and have taken pictures of everything wrong, but I'm nor sure what to do next. What should I do? raineday- I spoke with a lawyer about my current situation and he instructed me to notify fair housing. I took pictures of the issue in my apartment the day I moved in and have proof the condition. I also asked about the conditions in which you can terminate a lease and we discoved my apartments violated 2 out of the 3. We have 4 maintenience techs in our apartments also so understaffed is no reason. We never signed anything about early lease termination conditions either. And The apartments were suppose to show us the apartment we were getting before we signed anything and they did not. We followed all the rules and payed our rent faithfully every month so there are no circumstances in which this mistreatment is fair. They are not doing there part in making the apartment inhabitable.
2 months ago - 3 answers
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Maintenance Issues with the landlord a; Needs must be put into writing to make them “official.” B; the Landlord needs to be given 30 days unless they are emergency needs like water or ac/or heat or roof falling in/window/door out. C; if the LL does not perform the repairs- after 30 days, [non emergency ones] call 3 licensed contractors who perform this type of work. Hire one of them. Make sure you are happy with their work. Pay them when they are finished and get a receipt which shows what they did. D; when rent is next due, pay it MINUS the amount paid for repairs]. E; send a copy of the paid invoice. F; if the landlord complains about non payment of rent [or insufficient rent], and sues you, go to court and show the judge your paid receipts. If you win [in 99% of all cases, the tenant wins these cases], you get your filing fees back and 3x what you pay in rent for DAMAGES in a RETALIATION eviction. G; IF this is not a regular repair, but one that makes the unit uninhabitable–that is called a “constructive eviction” and it permits the tenant to call the landlord and inform him that you are leaving, having been thusly evicted by the condition of the unit. HE must return unearned rent [the rent for that day and all the rest of the month] to you no later than 15 days. ------------------------------------------- when a unit is UNINHABITABLE, you have what in law is called a "constructive eviction." When that occurs, you inform the landlord of the situation, and you move out. YOUR lease has expired as of that moment. IF, on the other hand, he is getting it repaired in 1-2 days, and you wish to tolerate it till then, that is another matter. YOU have to decide and courts don't like wishy washy. YOU either are EVICTED by the condition of the unit or you are inconvenienced. IF the LL goes to court to sue you for future lease payments or to answer YOUR suit for UNEARNED prepaid rent, you need to explain the situation. 2 mo is not acceptable. [also, in any circumstances, if the small claims court judges against you, you can appeal to the superior court but i have never ever known anyone who has been Constructively evicted to lose his case. ----------------------------- The experts I have talked to indicate that one of many ways to get rid of mold of any kind; use bleach to remove it. It will not harm anyone unless someone breathes it in directly over a long period of time. move the refrig to get easy access to where the mold is and just wipe it off. .......if it has embedded itself into the refrig, that is another story but I have never heard of that. Since a refrig usually costs more than the monthly rent; you probably have grounds for claiming the Constructive Eviction. And it is fine to sue the LL for the prepaid rent that you did not use plus your deposit. Have you sent a certified letter to the owner of the property with ANALYTICAL comments about your situation? if the lady who is ignoring you is 1/2 owner of the bldg, you are reasonable to leave now. available to guide you further
Source(s)
RE broker, landlord-tenant specialist
by kemperk
2 months ago
Asker's Rating: 
Other Answers
Welcome to life.No one is discriminating against you and chances that this is actual "black" mold is very slim. All we hear about on the news is black mold ,well it doesnt happen everytime mold shows up and most likely it is green mold.Been there done that. Apartments are noisy.If there is a problem with noisy neighbors then call the police.They are the ones to handle noise problems.I no longer respond to any noise complaints and tell the residents to call the police.Traffic happens and its a part of life. Managers do not give out the owners info.Ive had people rant and scream and raise nine kinds of hell demanding the owners contact info,guess what,they didn't get it. The managers are there acting on the owners behalf and you have no reason to talk to the owners and they won't talk to you. I've not read anything here regarding any type of emergency and I would not return your phone calls over noise either. Your refridgerator was repaired. Do you not realize that repairs take time.There is no such thing as a instant repair,even water leaks from the toilet take time.Apartment complexes have one maintenance person doing all the work and it is going to take time to get everything done.We do repair request in order they are received and if they are not in writting,we don't even acknowledge them.If you were living in your own home repairs are not instant. You reported to fair housing ,for what? You are very very very inmature about life and apartments and reality. You have no grounds to get out of your lease. You need to grow up real fast if you are going to live in your own place.
by rainedayz_tx- 2 months ago
I know it's the last thing you want to hear but you should honor your rental agreement and chalk this up to a lesson learned. Everything you said has a legitimate counter argument..i.e. you were told to sign your lease without seeing the apartment....Did you really stop the signing process and say, I would like to see the unit that will be assigned to us? Black mold....is probably green mold...but the the bigger question is why dont you clean it up? Not trying to be a jerk..just saying...take a picture..document it to high heaven..then clean that crap up! Mold of any kind is never good. Anyways, I am sure you get my point. We have all been 19-20 years old. I know it seems like you are getting shafted, but the bottom line is you signed a contract, unless it allows you to give 30 days notice for any reason and limits your liability, you had better fufill your obligations because later on I can GUARANTEE you will will want this awesome little place, that is PERFECT for you and your family.. and this issue will come back and bite you in the butt and you wont get it. Have some fun with it...give the mold a name.. like Smudgy!....You are 19!!!! Life aint that bad!!! Take Care..
by Chad- 2 months ago