Lease Nightmare
We signed a lease and moved in a garage apartment last november. When we moved in, the sink was leaking, the dishwasher hadn't been used in years and didn't work, the bathroom door wouldn't shut and the apartment was covered in cat fur, dust, grease and lady bugs. After sleeping here the first night, the next morning we felt like we had a cold and it didn't go away until about 2 months after we moved in it starting getting worse. I was having bad headaches, my neck was so stiff I couldn't move and I was seeing rainbow spots, and my wife was having puss in her throat and it was sore. It had snowed really good and my wife said she smelled something. We sniffed around and found the carpet by the front door was wet. We pulled the carpet back and found about a 2ft by 5ft patch of black mold on the subfloor and carpet and pad. After fighting with the landlords, getting the subfloor tore up by some guys that didn't clean out all the mold and after arguing with the landlords and finding out they were having financial and marital problems, we got mold experts to come out. They tore up the subfloor and cleaned out the insulation and remaining mold, and informed me we had mold in our air vents and blower in the furnace. They came back out and cleaned that out supposedly. Then it started getting warmer and when we had the air set on 74, the air would run 8-14 hours straight and the temperature would rise to about 85 inside. After telling the landlords, and them disappearing for 3 days, they had their warranty company out and eventually replaced the evaporator coil. Now, the air does the same thing but only gets up to about 80-81. They told us when we moved in that someone had lived here for 4 years before we moved in, and the electric company told us the elec was hooked up for the first time last august. No internet, tv or phone was wired to the apartment when we moved in either and the area by the front door hasn't been finished, we just have cut up carpet and subfloor and exposed baseboards that let roaches in. We also have an old flu above our hot water heater that leaks when it rains. It's hard to believe anyone lived here for 4 years with all the problems. It was obviously empty for 12 years and they tried to rent it out starting last august because they were having money problems and the first tenant moved out because they got sick. We have lots of bugs, no a/c, mold and landlords that don't want to fix anything. What are our options to get our deposit and some $ back to be able to move and recoup any damages? Thank You.
|