What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? North Carolina
We live in an apartment with our newborn baby and have lots of cigarette smoke from our adjacent neighbor that blows in through our vents. Today, the apartment manager admitted that it's because the HVAC system has a t-valve that connects our neighbor's HVAC system to ours and thus lets her smoke in through our vents. She also said there's nothing they can do to prevent her smoke from coming into our apartment.
Considering that secondhand smoke raises the chances of our baby dying from SIDS or getting asthma, we really want to get him out of this environment, but can hardly afford to break our lease and move again right now. We were not verbally informed that this apartment complex was a smoking facility, we can't find it in our lease that this is a smoking facility (but the manager says it is), and we definitely were not informed that the apartment units have HVAC systems that lets air flow between the units.
Were we expected to assume all of these things when we moved in? I would imagine we can't have been expected to know the t-valve HVAC system set up. Do we have any legal leverage on changing the HVAC system or making them waive our fees for breaking our lease and moving?
We live in an apartment with our newborn baby and have lots of cigarette smoke from our adjacent neighbor that blows in through our vents. Today, the apartment manager admitted that it's because the HVAC system has a t-valve that connects our neighbor's HVAC system to ours and thus lets her smoke in through our vents. She also said there's nothing they can do to prevent her smoke from coming into our apartment.
Considering that secondhand smoke raises the chances of our baby dying from SIDS or getting asthma, we really want to get him out of this environment, but can hardly afford to break our lease and move again right now. We were not verbally informed that this apartment complex was a smoking facility, we can't find it in our lease that this is a smoking facility (but the manager says it is), and we definitely were not informed that the apartment units have HVAC systems that lets air flow between the units.
Were we expected to assume all of these things when we moved in? I would imagine we can't have been expected to know the t-valve HVAC system set up. Do we have any legal leverage on changing the HVAC system or making them waive our fees for breaking our lease and moving?