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Hi all. How's the moderation?
So, my girlfriend and I are having an apartment disaster. Oh no!
We moved into a new apartment on June 12. When we did so, we noticed that the carpet in the bedroom was ever so slightly damp. But we figured this may have just been us tracking in water or the humidity or whatever. Over the next couple of days, however, we discovered that a corner of the bedroom was actually soaking wet and was not drying. On top of that, the apartment had taken on a musty smell. After confronting management about this (because the wet carpet had soaked through some of our boxes and damaged our precious books!), we were told that an immigrant maid who didn't speak English had accidentally spilled a bucket of water in our bedroom and then been too afraid to fess up. What the immigrant maid was doing in our bedroom with a bucket of smelly water, they would not say. Anyway, they tore up the carpet in the bedroom, brought in fans and an industrial dehumidifier, and allowed us to stay in the model apartment (which was not even remotely comfortable). By June 17, the whole issue had been resolved, but we were not happy. After a bit of negotiation (the manager's initial offer was a gift card for dinner at a nearby restaurant), we got them to give us a credit for the first week of living there in addition to an extra $50 to pay for utilities (because they were using our electricity to run their equipment).
The following week, we noticed we had an infestation of bugs! They were coming in through a poorly sealed patio door and living in little cracks in the corners of our apartment. Management quickly had this sprayed, but all this meant was that the bugs coming into our apartment slowly died and left their carcasses sprawled on the kitchen floor; it did not stop them from coming in.
When we came home on Friday, June 25, the AC had broken. On Saturday they inspected the unit, determined that it had overheated, and installed a portable AC unit so that they could give the compressor a day to cool down. On Sunday, when they were supposed to come and turn the AC back on, they instead did not come and turn the AC back on. On Monday, they came back and decided that the compressor was completely shot and would need to be replaced. On Tuesday they ordered a new compressor. On Wednesday, June 30, they had it installed.
The next day, July 1, we grudgingly went to pay our rent. While in the office, we complained that they had yet to take away the portable AC unit, that bugs were still coming in through the poorly sealed door, and of one more problem. About a week after moving in, the water pressure in our shower died. The girlfriend took apart the shower head and discovered that it was clogged with... something... rust, paint, drywall, sediment... we weren't sure. But after that the water pressure returned. A few days later, however, she tried to take a bath and discovered that, left alone for several minutes to fill up the tub, the faucet deposited more of the dirt crap we'd found in the shower head. And then, a few days later, the water pressure died again for the same reasons. So we complained of this to them, thinking that there may have been some problem with the water heater (because it only happened with hot water).
Some time on Friday or Saturday, when we weren't home, the maintenance crew came by, took the portable AC unit and taped up (poorly) the poorly sealed patio door. We have no idea if they addressed the problem of the crap in our shower.
On Sunday, July 4, the water heater ruptured and flooded half our apartment. It took them an hour to respond to our call and more of our property acquired water damage. At that moment, we decided that we were moving out of the apartment as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we were unable to talk to management until today because of the holiday weekend. We demanded that they release us from our lease, refund every cent that we've paid them, and hire professional movers to move our belongings to another community of our choice. The property manager has virtually no authority, however, and had to call her bosses to see what sort of arrangement could be reached.
Their offer at present: they will release us from the lease and give us a check for $350, which comes nowhere close to covering the ~$1700 we've paid them so far (first month's rent, prorated July rent, security deposit, application fee) or the money we've spent on our Comcast installation, food we've bought while unable to live in our house, and various other expenses incurred as a result of this failed lease.
So, the question is, what options do we have now for getting them to agree to our demands? Can we file a complaint with somebody? Can we sue? Can we get a lawyer to write a nasty letter? Or are we just a bunch of troublemakers who need to shut up and be happy? Have your say, Apolyton. And thanks for reading.
So, my girlfriend and I are having an apartment disaster. Oh no!
We moved into a new apartment on June 12. When we did so, we noticed that the carpet in the bedroom was ever so slightly damp. But we figured this may have just been us tracking in water or the humidity or whatever. Over the next couple of days, however, we discovered that a corner of the bedroom was actually soaking wet and was not drying. On top of that, the apartment had taken on a musty smell. After confronting management about this (because the wet carpet had soaked through some of our boxes and damaged our precious books!), we were told that an immigrant maid who didn't speak English had accidentally spilled a bucket of water in our bedroom and then been too afraid to fess up. What the immigrant maid was doing in our bedroom with a bucket of smelly water, they would not say. Anyway, they tore up the carpet in the bedroom, brought in fans and an industrial dehumidifier, and allowed us to stay in the model apartment (which was not even remotely comfortable). By June 17, the whole issue had been resolved, but we were not happy. After a bit of negotiation (the manager's initial offer was a gift card for dinner at a nearby restaurant), we got them to give us a credit for the first week of living there in addition to an extra $50 to pay for utilities (because they were using our electricity to run their equipment).
The following week, we noticed we had an infestation of bugs! They were coming in through a poorly sealed patio door and living in little cracks in the corners of our apartment. Management quickly had this sprayed, but all this meant was that the bugs coming into our apartment slowly died and left their carcasses sprawled on the kitchen floor; it did not stop them from coming in.
When we came home on Friday, June 25, the AC had broken. On Saturday they inspected the unit, determined that it had overheated, and installed a portable AC unit so that they could give the compressor a day to cool down. On Sunday, when they were supposed to come and turn the AC back on, they instead did not come and turn the AC back on. On Monday, they came back and decided that the compressor was completely shot and would need to be replaced. On Tuesday they ordered a new compressor. On Wednesday, June 30, they had it installed.
The next day, July 1, we grudgingly went to pay our rent. While in the office, we complained that they had yet to take away the portable AC unit, that bugs were still coming in through the poorly sealed door, and of one more problem. About a week after moving in, the water pressure in our shower died. The girlfriend took apart the shower head and discovered that it was clogged with... something... rust, paint, drywall, sediment... we weren't sure. But after that the water pressure returned. A few days later, however, she tried to take a bath and discovered that, left alone for several minutes to fill up the tub, the faucet deposited more of the dirt crap we'd found in the shower head. And then, a few days later, the water pressure died again for the same reasons. So we complained of this to them, thinking that there may have been some problem with the water heater (because it only happened with hot water).
Some time on Friday or Saturday, when we weren't home, the maintenance crew came by, took the portable AC unit and taped up (poorly) the poorly sealed patio door. We have no idea if they addressed the problem of the crap in our shower.
On Sunday, July 4, the water heater ruptured and flooded half our apartment. It took them an hour to respond to our call and more of our property acquired water damage. At that moment, we decided that we were moving out of the apartment as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we were unable to talk to management until today because of the holiday weekend. We demanded that they release us from our lease, refund every cent that we've paid them, and hire professional movers to move our belongings to another community of our choice. The property manager has virtually no authority, however, and had to call her bosses to see what sort of arrangement could be reached.
Their offer at present: they will release us from the lease and give us a check for $350, which comes nowhere close to covering the ~$1700 we've paid them so far (first month's rent, prorated July rent, security deposit, application fee) or the money we've spent on our Comcast installation, food we've bought while unable to live in our house, and various other expenses incurred as a result of this failed lease.
So, the question is, what options do we have now for getting them to agree to our demands? Can we file a complaint with somebody? Can we sue? Can we get a lawyer to write a nasty letter? Or are we just a bunch of troublemakers who need to shut up and be happy? Have your say, Apolyton. And thanks for reading.
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