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Horrible smell, neighbor unit plumbing issue

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Eva0821

Junior Member
Oops!

Sorry. New to site. Didn't post full message.

My boyfriend and I just moved into a new unit a week ago. Renting. The landlord didn't disclose to us that the neighbor was nuts, a hoarder and had seriously messed up plumbing. She hasn't used her upstairs toliet in years apparently. I don't know the specifics but it's def an issue in HER unit and it's causing a horrible smell in our unit. I THINK she owns the unit but not 100% sure

My landlord is trying to be so kind and call health dept and talk to her (she won't talk she screams and won't allow anyone inside). He seems to be incredibly kind and trying his best BUT I believe he knew about this issue and didn't inform us. There's a weird spot on the hard wood floors from a previous flood he said, but he didn't tell us about the neighbor.

He opened up the wall and it's wet. There's a bad issue and a bad smell. The smell is bad enough but I NEED to know if there's mold or any health issues. My boyfriend has two kids. I have a dog.

So my questions:

1.Is my landlord in any kind of "breech" for not disclosing the info he must have known about the neighbor?

2. Does my neighbor have the right to not allow the health dept or anyone into her unit when there's a terrible smell in mine, we opened the wall, and it's clearly HER Issue?

Advice. Please.
 

xylene

Senior Member
Since your landlord is unable or unwilling to effect repair of the unsanitary conditions and plumbing issues, your landlord appears to be in significant breech of the implied warranty of habitability,

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/problems.shtml

I suggest you inform your landlord of this and ask your landlord to voluntarily release you from the lease, and if he refuses your best option is to contact a lawyer, it will be worth the money.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
has anybody called the Department of Health? If it stinks, you can guess what it could be. That is a serious health issue that needs to be dealt with asap. Call the department of health or the code enforcement office and have a chat.



Does my neighbor have the right to not allow the health dept or anyone into her unit
they have ways to get her to cooperate. If it is believed there is a serious health issue, they can obtain a warrant to enter. Often times there are powers of warrant already in place for certain issues. The sooner you call them the sooner you can figure out what they will do.
 

xylene

Senior Member
has anybody called the Department of Health? If it stinks, you can guess what it could be. That is a serious health issue that needs to be dealt with asap. Call the department of health or the code enforcement office and have a chat.



they have ways to get her to cooperate. If it is believed there is a serious health issue, they can obtain a warrant to enter. Often times there are powers of warrant already in place for certain issues. The sooner you call them the sooner you can figure out what they will do.
I agree with this approach, but only to an extent. It forces the tenant to do what should be the landlord's job (working a complex govt. agency system), the resolution is not assured, and the problem is extremely likely to recur. Hoarding is a compulsive mental illness, and squalid hoarding is very difficult, even if the hoarder wants help. The OP would need to think hard about the effort involved in working the system to whipping the landlord to deal with an essentially unsolvable problem vs simply getting out. I'm also skeptical of the effectiveness of abatement and remediation that could be executed in an occupied unit.
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
I do not believe smell alone would be considered a breach of the warranty of habitability. In addition, if it was not noticeable upon inspection of the unit one must wonder how bad it actually is.

A wet spot on the ceiling itself is not a breach of the warranty of habitability.

The question is; what is the OP actually exposed to and does that breach the implied warranty of habitability? If it doesn't, there is no basis to terminate the lease. That is why I believe the health department or code enforcement must be involved. If they determine it is not habitable, then OP is good to go with remedies or termination of lease. It could be the simplest way out, unless landlord is willing to simply terminate the lease without liability on the OP.

I fully understand the OP's concerns but unless they call the government agencies, it doesnt sound like the landlord will (since it has apparently been like this for awhile so he most likely was aware of it) and if the OP just leaves they may have to fight a breach of lease suit.
 

OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
He opened up the wall and it's wet.
Call your local health inspector and show them inside the hole. They will possibly decide your unit is unfit or more likely, get a warrant based on what they see to inspect her premises for health hazards. If the issue requires her water be shut off due to a leak, they will enforce shutting off her utilities and declare her unit unfit, until she has it corrected and reinspected for occupancy.
 

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