Need to get out of apartment asap!! Too many problems.

11 years ago

We need some advice. We moved into a new apartment in June. Our upstairs neighbor was very harassing and noisy. We complained to management and were told that these problems were going on previously but they "must have dropped the ball by not dealing with them before". That's exactly what we were told by the manager. We were told to call the police if the noise problems persisted which we did and the neighbors were evicted. While that was going on, our electric was going out intermittently for a month. We reported the first incident which happened around 6/28 and management thought it might be the upstairs neighbor turning our electric off at the main board. We were told that it might be a faulty breaker and they would order the part to have it fixed after the 4th of July weekend. It happened again a couple days later-which we reported again. We were told at that time that they couldn't get to it because they had a few air conditioners that were going out and had to be replaced before they could get to us. This went on with incidents about 3-4 times a week. We kept complaining and were told to not have so many electrical things running at one time. We couldn't have the air conditioner running (in the middle of July when it was hotter than normal in the 90's) when we wanted to cook or we had to have only one light on at a time and finally it got so bad that we were down to the living room tv with no air conditioning and lights on. We actually had to walk around with flashlights. Finally we couldn't take anymore and demanded that they fix the problem. It still took them a coupld of days to get the part that they never ordered in the first place. This repair took all of about 5 minutes to do. We then asked to be let out of our lease. After which we were told by the manager that they would not put anyone with children over our heads so we wouldn't have the same problem

again and the electric was repaired so we stayed. Now there's a very loud child living over our heads and they have a very large dog up there too so it sounds like there's a football game being played over us, it gets so loud. We have written a letter of intent to vacate dated 11/1 and they have only shown the apartment to a couple of people. We have asked to be let out of our lease but were told we could not do that even though we had to endure all the problems that we have. We need advice on how to get out of here as fast as we can. We can't take anymore problems and noise. This place is horrible. We have been very good tenants-we pay our rent on time, we're very quiet and follow the lease to the letter as far as our responsibilities go but the management has dropped the ball over and over. Now they are showing the apartment tomorrow to someone that doesn't plan to move in until January so we're stuck until then. Please tell us what we can do to get out of here now.

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Comments (4)

camlan
11 years ago
I think you might need a lawyer. If you can't afford one, your area might have a Legal Aid that will help you.

Or at the very least, google "yourstate tenant landlord laws." The reasons for breaking a lease are different in every state, so you need to find out what the laws are where you live.

When you had all the electrical problems, that was the time to contact the authorities--there are laws about providing things like electricity and heat and, in some states, air conditioning. But now that things are fixed, it would be harder to get the proper agencies involved.

Did they give you anything in writing about no children overhead? That's something you could use to break the lease.

Starting now, and until you get out of there, document everything that happens. All the noise from upstairs--and the result of that noise. "Oct. 18, 5 pm. Child jumping on floor upstairs. Unable to hear TV at normal volume. Oct. 19, music playing upstairs. Unable to have conversation without yelling to be heard over the music."

Also document any problems with the apartment, like the electricity and water and heat, etc.

If you leave the apartment without breaking the lease, you will still have to pay rent there. But the landlord can't just sit around collecting your rent. They have to make efforts to rent the apartment. So if you do end up leaving without breaking the rent, keep checking to make sure that they are advertising your unit and showing it to potential tenants.
delonquin
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the advice and you're right, we should have taken action when we had the electrical problems. At this point I wish we had but now we're faced with the noise and just found out today that they may have someone that wants the apartment but can't move in until January. We definitely don't want to stay here that long. I think we will contact a lawyer and at least have a consultation. We can't afford to retain an attorney's services but at least we can talk to one.
Thanks again.
camlan
11 years ago
I'm sorry you are having to deal with this.

Do document everything, so that you have records showing what's happening. As much as you can remember of the events of the electrical problems--write that down too. Dates, what happened or didn't happen, etc.

Try googling [yourstate legal aid] or [yourstate free legal advice] to see if there are any free or low cost legal services available in your area. I think you might have a good case for breaking a lease, but you need to know how to go about it correctly.

Good luck!
delonquin
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the advice. I have kept all emails and have chronocalized the events as much as I can. We're going to have a consultation with a lawyer on Monday to at least get an idea of whether we have a shot at getting out of the lease or not. I have never in my life been in such a poorly managed place as this. Thanks for good luck wish. I hope it works.

Thanks