mold, sickness & complex will not fix

[jesslee83]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? texas

in the last 2 months, my 11 month old and i have each gotten upper respitory infections, and bronchitis...i have never had allergies, and now i have them to the point of quitting my other job, and going to one that didn't require me to be on the phone with people...yes sounds stupid, but really the job required me to be on the phone through the entire shift, and i moved to one, where i do not really have to deal with people at all...

2 weeks ago, i caught my wedding ring on our washer, and it fell. so the husband pulled out the washer. behind that, he found mold extending up to half the height of the washer. we called maintenance, and they said they would be in the next day. i waited 2 days when they didn't show up, and spoke with our manager. she said she had no maint. report. so i put one in then, in writing. this was on the 10th or 11th. come the following monday, they still haven't been in. i went in last friday, and again was told by the asst manager that there was no report. i told her i had filed one in person with the head woman. now, she is on vacation. yesterday afternoon, my neighbor went to use her washer, and flooded our side and hers(there is only an 8ft wall "tying" us together. 4 ft where washers are, and 8 foot for pantry). so she asked me to help her shut the water off there. that entailed pulling out her stackable washer and dryer. to find mold all the way up the wall behind her stacked set! so i came back to my side, where the water was coming through, and noticed a black substance against the wall that "ties" us together...so i pulled about a 2x3 inch piece of paint off the wall...and found black and grey mold. i went to the office since it was about 4pm, to be told by the assistant it was not mold, that they'd already sent someone in. my neighbor also went with me, and they told her the same thing.well they said it to both of us.which i know for a fact that is a blatant lie, because we'd changed the locks, and after the manager had me install them, told me not to give one to maintenance(and i had yet to even take a new one to the office), after the issue i had with our cable, and maint being in our house for no reason. so i told her that there was no way they'd already checked, b/c they had no keys. she said whatever, that she'd send someone today. no one came today(i am off on wednesdays), and when i left the apartment around noon, there was a notice on our door, stating we owed $300 extra deposit for damage. i went to the office with the notice, and asked if it was maybe put on the wrong door? the assistant said "nope, you said you pulled paint off the wall, you are being charged the amount that it will cost up to repaint!"...they also gave my neighbor the same notice! she came to ask me if i got one, while i was typing this. everyone who moved in february got the same lease bonus.

um, i'm confused! i've been complaining for over 2 weeks about mold, and no one ever comes to check it out! we're in the midst of saving $ to move out, and have been told we still have to pay the above deposit, AS WELL as the full amount of our 1st months rent(we got 1st and last free on a yr lease), and have to pay the full depost of $350(again, we got a $99 depost for a year lease, with the 1st and last months free)...what do we do? they say if we don't pay to move, and we just leave, they will sue us, and take us to court for the back due amount, and that it will be on our credit. and of course, a new place can make an eviction check, and it will be there, not only that, we can't just not give the info to where we've been living the last 8months. what should we do? we can't give them all that money, AND move, nor can we afford for them to go to court against us! do we have any repercussion?

 

[Hot Topic]

Are you saying that you changed locks without the landlord's permission? If you are, that should be a violation of your lease.

You need(ed) a company experienced in mold detection to determine what kind of mold is present. The world is full of it, but not all of it is harmful.

The landlord can "get you" for any kind of damage you do to the property, including pulling strips of paint off the wall as you play Sherlock Holmes.

 

[FarmerJ]

Sounds like your best option is to just call your city/county public health dept or building inspections after you take pics for your own records and let them order repairs , maybe you will get lucky and your LL will be so furious they will sign a early termination letting you out of the lease sooner. If they wont stand your ground and get inspections out. Maybe you will be lucky and the LL will be so stubborn that inspections will condemn the unit if they order repairs and LL doesnt do them.

 

[jesslee83]

Are you saying that you changed locks without the landlord's permission? If you are, that should be a violation of your lease.

You need(ed) a company experienced in mold detection to determine what kind of mold is present. The world is full of it, but not all of it is harmful.

The landlord can "get you" for any kind of damage you do to the property, including pulling strips of paint off the wall as you play Sherlock Holmes.

actually, i had written another post, but i think i did it under husband's username...

back a month ago, we found the maint men in our apt, after the office gave us their key, b/c i'd lost it in a car accident. so the manager gave me the ok to change the locks, and also called her husband who works at the hardware store, to let him know i was coming down, and for him to help me find a suitable lock. she had told me then, not to give a key to the maintanence men. so i have the ok for that.

to the other person who responded, trying to get someone to actually look at just 1 unit here, is like calling g_d on a cell phone. it just simply won't happen. i recently found reviews on our complex, to the extent that a woman was raped, and her attacker burned in the parking lot. as well as several rapes etc. it was when i found these, that i became aware about persons coming into our house. let me go back, and see if i wrote that under my name or husbands, and i'll post the link for the thread...

 

[Searchertwin]

There are no Federal laws that set limits or standards as to what types or levels of mold exposure or of mold presence is healthy or unhealthy, or as to what levels or types of mold are allowed or not allowed indoors.

Even after testing, the solution remains the same, "control the moisture, control the mold."
Mold will always be found in testing. It is everywhere and there will always be some level of mold.


So forget the mold to use as a means to get out of a lease.

 

[jesslee83]

So forget the mold to use as a means to get out of a lease.

um, maybe you didn't read the whole issue. *I* had not originally planned to move! we'd been saving originally to buy a house with tax $, and that is when our lease ended. but now, after i made the complaint about the flooding and everything to the office, and i've done it several times with no repairs being done, they are not only attempting to charge me a new deposit(for peeling off a TINY piece of paint-which was already coming off, it's how i was even able to see mold on the side wall)...but they are trying to charge me for pulling off a piece of paint, which THEY never repaired when my apt flooded for 6 hours back in march. they never repainted, and the paint is still peeling from just that.

not only that, they also gave my neighbor the same notice, as mine! she nor i pulled paint off her wall, but they are saying she owes because of the repainting needed for the flooding from our washers. today, i went and was able to actually see the manager(who was here due to police being called for something)...i showed her the notice, as did my neighbor. she got the asst. manager, and we tried to explain that we've got flooding every single time each of us use our washers. and that we flood one anothers apartment. she said it was impossible. so she came back to our apts with us, and i turned on my washer, which caused water to leak out from underneath the neighbors washer. then we turned mine off, went next door, turned her washer on, and showed the manager where water comes out from underneath mine. the manager says they will have to see what can be done...but with the sick thing, it's just driving me nuts, how we went out of town to my moms over the weekend, and it seemed i was feeling better. no allergies, no coughing, no migraines, for 3 whole days. same with the baby. no coughing, no breathing trouble. we got home monday, and bam...we're both back to where we were...so it's got to be something in the apartment making us sick. the husband works offshore, and when he's offshore, he's fine. when he gets home, he's nauseous(sp?), gets migraines to the point of having to go to the ER, etc...

 

[Cvillecpm]

I suspect you need to move - your PRIOR issues are coming back on you and changing the locks without providing a key to the office as a NO-NO

 

[Alaska landlord]

Stop sitting on your hands and wipe the mold off the walls with a solution of bleach and soap water.(wear a face mask)
This will alleviate your allergy symptoms untill the repairs are done. You and your neighbor need to stop using your washers untill this is resolved. To me, it looks like you have a leak within the walls. To continue to use the washers is willful negligence.

 

[Cvillecpm]

Willful, contributory negligence