What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN
I have explained the entire situation in detail below my question but in case you don’t need or don’t want to read all the information I will quickly summarize. I signed a lease and found out the day I was moving in that the apartment had roaches and had been treated at least three times within a month. The roaches were so bad I woke up with them crawling on me! I moved my stuff out the next day.
My question do I have a legit reason to break my lease and ask for my deposit back? Would roaches be considered an inhabitable condition? The only thing I could find that would pertain to bugs is in the Tennessee Department of Health General requirements relating to the safe and sanitary maintenance of parts of dwelling units which states: Every multiple dwelling or rooming house shall be kept reasonably free of household vermin provided that the landlord shall not be required to carry out treatment measures more than twice per year. I take that to mean if they have to exterminate more than twice a year to rid a place of a certain vermin it is not safe or sanitary? Is that a correct interpretation of that rule?
Long story**************I rented an apartment and signed a 1 year lease. I started moving in on Fri and while moving an exterminator stopped by to say he was there to spray for roaches. I called the management company to ask if it was ok to have the exterminator there to spray. She acted surprised and said she didn't know there were roaches but to go ahead and let him because they have him come every month to spray for bugs anyway. When I told him what she said he laughed and said "I guess they didn't tell you this apartment had roaches.... figures". He said this was his third time there for treatment of roaches this month! I asked what I could do to help get rid of them. He said don't leave any food or dirty dishes out and he didn't think there was much else to do. I was surprised because I didn't know there were roaches or I wouldn't have agreed to rent the apartment. There were no signs of bugs when I looked at the apartment and I didn't see any bugs at that time so I was optimistic. I continued to move things in and notice one roach crawling on the wall. Later, after the exterminator left I noticed a few dead bugs in the windowsill. I went to bed that night and woke up at 3 am with something crawling on my arm! I slung what I think was two bugs off of my arm and I turned on my cell phone light and there were several crawling on the walls! I left and went to stay at my parent's house. I called the management company the next morning and told her the bugs were much worse than we originally thought. I told her I could not stay in a place that is infested with roaches! She said she would call the owner and call me back. I called the electric company to tell them that I wouldn't need electric service at that address on Monday. I moved my things out and in doing so talked to my next door neighbor and one of the neighbors upstairs (The building has 4 apartments). Both said there has been a roach problem since they had moved in and the longest tenant had lived there since Jan. He said the biggest problem was in my apartment because someone lived there and was "nasty" and they couldn't seem to get rid of them.
I did not hear from the management company Sat afternoon, Sun, Mon or Tue morning despite leaving voicemails and text messages. I called the main office on Tue around noon and ask to speak to her. I was told she was with another client and would give me a call back when she was done. At 4:00 pm I still had not heard from her. I sent her an email stating that if I didn't hear anything by Friday afternoon I would take legal action to resolve the matter. She immediately called me and stated she couldn't get in touch with the owner but doubted I could get out of the lease or get my deposit back. She stated that she went over there on Sunday and didn’t see any bugs! (Note: On Sat I actually took pictures of bugs crawling and dead ones on sticky pads that someone placed out on Sat.) She also stated that since I cut the electricity off that could also be a problem for me.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and answer,
I have explained the entire situation in detail below my question but in case you don’t need or don’t want to read all the information I will quickly summarize. I signed a lease and found out the day I was moving in that the apartment had roaches and had been treated at least three times within a month. The roaches were so bad I woke up with them crawling on me! I moved my stuff out the next day.
My question do I have a legit reason to break my lease and ask for my deposit back? Would roaches be considered an inhabitable condition? The only thing I could find that would pertain to bugs is in the Tennessee Department of Health General requirements relating to the safe and sanitary maintenance of parts of dwelling units which states: Every multiple dwelling or rooming house shall be kept reasonably free of household vermin provided that the landlord shall not be required to carry out treatment measures more than twice per year. I take that to mean if they have to exterminate more than twice a year to rid a place of a certain vermin it is not safe or sanitary? Is that a correct interpretation of that rule?
Long story**************I rented an apartment and signed a 1 year lease. I started moving in on Fri and while moving an exterminator stopped by to say he was there to spray for roaches. I called the management company to ask if it was ok to have the exterminator there to spray. She acted surprised and said she didn't know there were roaches but to go ahead and let him because they have him come every month to spray for bugs anyway. When I told him what she said he laughed and said "I guess they didn't tell you this apartment had roaches.... figures". He said this was his third time there for treatment of roaches this month! I asked what I could do to help get rid of them. He said don't leave any food or dirty dishes out and he didn't think there was much else to do. I was surprised because I didn't know there were roaches or I wouldn't have agreed to rent the apartment. There were no signs of bugs when I looked at the apartment and I didn't see any bugs at that time so I was optimistic. I continued to move things in and notice one roach crawling on the wall. Later, after the exterminator left I noticed a few dead bugs in the windowsill. I went to bed that night and woke up at 3 am with something crawling on my arm! I slung what I think was two bugs off of my arm and I turned on my cell phone light and there were several crawling on the walls! I left and went to stay at my parent's house. I called the management company the next morning and told her the bugs were much worse than we originally thought. I told her I could not stay in a place that is infested with roaches! She said she would call the owner and call me back. I called the electric company to tell them that I wouldn't need electric service at that address on Monday. I moved my things out and in doing so talked to my next door neighbor and one of the neighbors upstairs (The building has 4 apartments). Both said there has been a roach problem since they had moved in and the longest tenant had lived there since Jan. He said the biggest problem was in my apartment because someone lived there and was "nasty" and they couldn't seem to get rid of them.
I did not hear from the management company Sat afternoon, Sun, Mon or Tue morning despite leaving voicemails and text messages. I called the main office on Tue around noon and ask to speak to her. I was told she was with another client and would give me a call back when she was done. At 4:00 pm I still had not heard from her. I sent her an email stating that if I didn't hear anything by Friday afternoon I would take legal action to resolve the matter. She immediately called me and stated she couldn't get in touch with the owner but doubted I could get out of the lease or get my deposit back. She stated that she went over there on Sunday and didn’t see any bugs! (Note: On Sat I actually took pictures of bugs crawling and dead ones on sticky pads that someone placed out on Sat.) She also stated that since I cut the electricity off that could also be a problem for me.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and answer,
