Uninhabitable

[linda valenzuela]

Jurisdiction

California

Hello, I have a question. I just signed my lease at my new apartment two days ago and paid my deposit plus first months rent. I did my walk through before noon that same day and decided everything was ok, besides a few mi or things that I did report, lightbulbs and window screen. I picked up my keys and went back to my old apartment. The next day, I was going to start moving my belongings in and I flipped the switch in my kitchen and my walls and floor had cockroaches crawling all over the place. I noticed that they were coming from the floor boards, tiny bugs as well as large bugs. I decided to double check the rooms and I found at least one roach in some corner of every room as well as all over my bath tub. I then found out that this complex has had a cockroach problem for a while and I was not notified about this upon move in. I suffer from IBS and my daughter has asthma. I had not yet moved in my belongings and when I signed my lease the manger notified us of an option to break the lease without penalty if we had a good enough reason to. On top of that, I live across the street from the playground and that same day that I found the bugs, the playground was set on fire by teenagers smoking in the tunnels. I refuse to live with my daughter in this unit, or in this complex. Am I at all entitled to receive my deposit AND first months rent back? I asked the manager for a copy of my lease agreement but she did not provide it to me. And I immediately sent her an email reporting the issue, this was after she left, and decided not to move in my belongings at all.

 

[mightymoose]

Don't send emails. Speak personally with the landlord or write a letter, make a copy, and send it in the mail with a return receipt.
If the landlord is uncooperative see about getting a health inspection of the apartment. Don't let this drag on for days.

 

[linda valenzuela]

Don't send emails. Speak personally with the landlord or write a letter, make a copy, and send it in the mail with a return receipt.
If the landlord is uncooperative see about getting a health inspection of the apartment. Don't let this drag on for days.

Would it be best for me to speak directly to the company that owns the complex? The manager has told me today that since I signed the lease she will need to keep the first months rent if I decide to break my lease without penalty. I do know that the company that owns this complex has a sister complex in a different are, that MAY be cleaner. Do you think it is possible for them to move me to that complex if there is a unit available? I would like to settle it out of court because I just want my total move in cost back. If I have to take it to court I will be asking for my moving expenses to be reimbursed as well. The manager of these apartments told me today that she had no idea that there was a pest problem and that the pest control was on site today, coincidentally, and that my unit would be sprayed today and again on Wednesday. I told her that I am extremely concerned for my daughters health as well as my own and that I would be contacting the health department and she did not have anything to say after that statement.

 

[mightymoose]

Id follow through with the health inspection if possible. If conditions are enough to declare it uninhabitable you will be entitled to your refund. They may not come right away though. You should try to get photos or video of the condition.
It wouldn't hurt to talk to someone above the manager. Do whatever you can think of to get the resolution you seek.