doctorwho737
New Member
I moved from Illinois to Port Lavaca Texas at the start of December, due to my fiancees grandfather having cancer.
We moved into an apartment complex that advertises itself as remodeled and a great place to live.
We could not make it to the office at the appointed time as the manager wanted us to sign a lease before we got the apartment keys. I called from Houston and said we were still three hours or so out, and she agreed to leave the door unlocked and the keys inside.
On arriving that night we found at least one German ****roach in every room in the unit and after inspecting all the roaches as well as some shoddy house work and decided to not unpack the U-Haul and spend the night at my fiancees grandparents house for the night as we did NOT want to live there.
At this point I should point out that my step daughter is allergic to roaches and cannot be around them and that I also have a five year old step son that could get allergies by staying.
Come morning we came to figure out we were in a catch 22 situation as we simply could not afford to keep our stuff in the U-Haul or storage and pay for a hotel and pay for a security deposit and rent.
(We could not stay at her grandparents either as he has cancer and was instructed by a doctor that the children would be a bad idea with the germs and the fact that they do not have a big enough house to accommodate four extra people as well.)
We also could not move back to Illinois for obvious reasons.
We talked to the manager in person in her office and she assured us that they had just had an exterminator in and that the problem was taken care of and that they had an exterminator in every month (Which I have now complained and been here beyond a month and have yet to see one).
So having no choice we signed a six month lease (On December 2nd 2011) and moved in.
We continued to see at least two to three roaches a day and spent around a hundred dollars in sprays, powders and baits/traps, which we were told could not be deducted form the rent as they had spray for us to use if we wanted to make use of it.
She also apologized to my fiancee and stated she was 'not allowed' to talk about the roaches to prospective tenants.
The problem continued and about a week ago I went to the manager myself with my step daughters allergist records showing she was allergic to ****roaches and that being around them was hazardous to her health.
I also explained that a roach had fallen on my fiancee from a vent in our bathroom ceiling while she was using the toilet and that we could not use our kitchen due to the infestation and that we did not even keep food outside the fridge.
Roaches and roach droppings were in the stove and range top as well as the cabinets which are still empty a month later as we are afraid to use them.
I was told that an exterminator would come tomorrow and fix the issues, and that they could not do the 'whole building' as I requested as they cannot control the other people in this building and the living conditions they maintain.
However any research on ****roaches and mice shows you that cleanliness helps but an infestation or the start of one needs to be handled completely or it will continue to happen.
The 'exterminator' turned out to be the buildings maintenance guys, who sprayed the same spray the offered us to use (And I think the same spray the used before we arrived as it smelled like the apartment did when we moved in).
They fixed the vent in the bathroom by replacing it and saying 'now none should fall on us'. They did spray the same spray in the rest of the building but to no avail, it needs a pro to come in and do it 100%.
We still see roaches but now on top of that I have seen a mouse and desperately want to move out asap.
I understand that as long as they are doing something I may be in a pickle but my step daughter's health is at risk as is my sanity and all our belongings as roaches and mice can infest furniture and make it trash, including electronics.
I have found out through research that the owner of the property is pretty much a slum lord who has various property's and motels/hotels in Texas that are all in a similar if not worse state and all reviews on the property's are horrible and tenants and guests tell tales that are just disgusting.
(Perhaps I should contact the attorney general?)
He also put up false testimonials that are exactly the same, word for word on this complex's website, so they are obviously not by two different people. The testimonials say they are two different tenants but they are both posted by the property owner, which is how I got lucky as to who owns the place.
(Isn't this false advertising and lying to potential tenants?)
I have been saving the information and have time stamped photos of some of the bugs and screenshots of some of the information about the owner on the web as well.
I also have the contact number of his company.
The lease is pretty tight but under the Responsibility of Owner section it states:
"Substantially comply with all applicable laws regarding safety, sanitation and fair housing"
It goes on to state that if they fail to do so I must make a certified mail request or two requests in writing, and then they have reasonable time to fix matters due to materials, labor and utilities.
I would like to know what this reasonable time is, I would think it would be the time needed to call an outside exterminator.
And my rent must be current, which it is.
I want to know what my next step is, I wrote the TAA (Texas Apartment association) local office to see if they are the office I need to contact but do not want to do anything less then a certified letter at this point.
I will inform them in person of the mouse (Or most likely mice) and still send the letter to have it properly legal and to the standards of the lease.
I will also present them with two copies of a handwritten letter asking for the owners name and information as I found out was my right by the TAA.
I cannot afford legal counsel and would love to have some advice on this matter. We and most importantly my seven year old step daughter cannot live in this environment any longer.
I have all the available information if needed via PM or email.
Thank you for your time...
We moved into an apartment complex that advertises itself as remodeled and a great place to live.
We could not make it to the office at the appointed time as the manager wanted us to sign a lease before we got the apartment keys. I called from Houston and said we were still three hours or so out, and she agreed to leave the door unlocked and the keys inside.
On arriving that night we found at least one German ****roach in every room in the unit and after inspecting all the roaches as well as some shoddy house work and decided to not unpack the U-Haul and spend the night at my fiancees grandparents house for the night as we did NOT want to live there.
At this point I should point out that my step daughter is allergic to roaches and cannot be around them and that I also have a five year old step son that could get allergies by staying.
Come morning we came to figure out we were in a catch 22 situation as we simply could not afford to keep our stuff in the U-Haul or storage and pay for a hotel and pay for a security deposit and rent.
(We could not stay at her grandparents either as he has cancer and was instructed by a doctor that the children would be a bad idea with the germs and the fact that they do not have a big enough house to accommodate four extra people as well.)
We also could not move back to Illinois for obvious reasons.
We talked to the manager in person in her office and she assured us that they had just had an exterminator in and that the problem was taken care of and that they had an exterminator in every month (Which I have now complained and been here beyond a month and have yet to see one).
So having no choice we signed a six month lease (On December 2nd 2011) and moved in.
We continued to see at least two to three roaches a day and spent around a hundred dollars in sprays, powders and baits/traps, which we were told could not be deducted form the rent as they had spray for us to use if we wanted to make use of it.
She also apologized to my fiancee and stated she was 'not allowed' to talk about the roaches to prospective tenants.
The problem continued and about a week ago I went to the manager myself with my step daughters allergist records showing she was allergic to ****roaches and that being around them was hazardous to her health.
I also explained that a roach had fallen on my fiancee from a vent in our bathroom ceiling while she was using the toilet and that we could not use our kitchen due to the infestation and that we did not even keep food outside the fridge.
Roaches and roach droppings were in the stove and range top as well as the cabinets which are still empty a month later as we are afraid to use them.
I was told that an exterminator would come tomorrow and fix the issues, and that they could not do the 'whole building' as I requested as they cannot control the other people in this building and the living conditions they maintain.
However any research on ****roaches and mice shows you that cleanliness helps but an infestation or the start of one needs to be handled completely or it will continue to happen.
The 'exterminator' turned out to be the buildings maintenance guys, who sprayed the same spray the offered us to use (And I think the same spray the used before we arrived as it smelled like the apartment did when we moved in).
They fixed the vent in the bathroom by replacing it and saying 'now none should fall on us'. They did spray the same spray in the rest of the building but to no avail, it needs a pro to come in and do it 100%.
We still see roaches but now on top of that I have seen a mouse and desperately want to move out asap.
I understand that as long as they are doing something I may be in a pickle but my step daughter's health is at risk as is my sanity and all our belongings as roaches and mice can infest furniture and make it trash, including electronics.
I have found out through research that the owner of the property is pretty much a slum lord who has various property's and motels/hotels in Texas that are all in a similar if not worse state and all reviews on the property's are horrible and tenants and guests tell tales that are just disgusting.
(Perhaps I should contact the attorney general?)
He also put up false testimonials that are exactly the same, word for word on this complex's website, so they are obviously not by two different people. The testimonials say they are two different tenants but they are both posted by the property owner, which is how I got lucky as to who owns the place.
(Isn't this false advertising and lying to potential tenants?)
I have been saving the information and have time stamped photos of some of the bugs and screenshots of some of the information about the owner on the web as well.
I also have the contact number of his company.
The lease is pretty tight but under the Responsibility of Owner section it states:
"Substantially comply with all applicable laws regarding safety, sanitation and fair housing"
It goes on to state that if they fail to do so I must make a certified mail request or two requests in writing, and then they have reasonable time to fix matters due to materials, labor and utilities.
I would like to know what this reasonable time is, I would think it would be the time needed to call an outside exterminator.
And my rent must be current, which it is.
I want to know what my next step is, I wrote the TAA (Texas Apartment association) local office to see if they are the office I need to contact but do not want to do anything less then a certified letter at this point.
I will inform them in person of the mouse (Or most likely mice) and still send the letter to have it properly legal and to the standards of the lease.
I will also present them with two copies of a handwritten letter asking for the owners name and information as I found out was my right by the TAA.
I cannot afford legal counsel and would love to have some advice on this matter. We and most importantly my seven year old step daughter cannot live in this environment any longer.
I have all the available information if needed via PM or email.
Thank you for your time...
