Any apt leasing people here.

[Nocturnus]

Current or former. I got a question to ask.

[lscottpht]

Former leasing agent. Worked for a company that did leasing for big clients like Compaq and such, but I leased apartments for their employees that were transferring to Houston.

[Nocturnus]

I'm trying to find out what I should do in my situation. Friday night water line broke in a 3rd floor apartment. Leaked inside the walls and flooded my pantry, entry way, entry way closet and soaked the carpet into my living room about 3 ft. Now my baseboards are pulling away from the try wall and in my pantry, the drywall was bowing out past the baseboard. I pressed on it and my finger went right through it like mush.

They did have a serivce come out and suck all the water out of the carpet, but left no fans or dehumidifiers to finish the drying the carpet nor drywall. My pantry is very musty smelling and the rest of my apt has a musty smell.

I'm figuring they should replace drywall and the damaged areas of the carpet. I'm supposed to sign another 1 year lease agreement for my apt this month.

I find this all to be well within reason, esp since I'll be here another year and seeing as how there could be a mildew and/or mold issue. As of now, I've been dealing with a sore throat and my dogs been sneezing like crazy (way more then normal).

[lscottpht]

Well, unfortunately, as a leasing agent that was not at a specific property, it's hard for me to answer that; however, my mom went through a similar situation. The apartment people basically told her that they were not responsible b/c that's what your renter's insurance is for. They did do basic clean up, but they would not replace all of her carpet, just the parts that got wet. She didn't want that b/c it wouldn't match her current carpet. They also would not cover any of her property that was damaged. They were pretty rude about the whole situation when my mom was upset. And, if you even bring up the issue of "black" mold, they will deny that. As far as threatening them about doing it before you renew, their answer will depend on how full they are and how sought after those apt. are. You will have the best chance if you have an apt. that is not easily rent-able.

[Some Idiot]

Originally Posted by Nocturnus

I'm trying to find out what I should do in my situation. Friday night water line broke in a 3rd floor apartment. Leaked inside the walls and flooded my pantry, entry way, entry way closet and soaked the carpet into my living room about 3 ft. Now my baseboards are pulling away from the try wall and in my pantry, the drywall was bowing out past the baseboard. I pressed on it and my finger went right through it like mush.

They did have a serivce come out and suck all the water out of the carpet, but left no fans or dehumidifiers to finish the drying the carpet nor drywall. My pantry is very musty smelling and the rest of my apt has a musty smell.

I'm figuring they should replace drywall and the damaged areas of the carpet. I'm supposed to sign another 1 year lease agreement for my apt this month.

I find this all to be well within reason, esp since I'll be here another year and seeing as how there could be a mildew and/or mold issue. As of now, I've been dealing with a sore throat and my dogs been sneezing like crazy (way more then normal).

Have you followed the policy they have in place to request a work order?

[Nocturnus]

Nothing of mine got damaged (Though I do normally store my camera gear in that closet). I called their emergency line the night it happened and that's all I've got so far.

Well, the 2 apartments above me are empty. Ones been empty about a month the the 3rd floor has been empty a while longer.

I don't really want all the carpet replaced, just the damaged areas. Moving a 75 gallon aquarium would be a pain for me.

I'm going to talk with the maint. people here and fill in a request tomorrow and see where that goes.

[lscottpht]

Good luck! They should at least replace part of your carpet that was damaged. Not sure about the dry wall, but talk to the manager. Each company is different.

[Nocturnus]

Yeah.. I just dont like that my drywall is mush..

[Some Idiot]

Originally Posted by Nocturnus

Yeah.. I just dont like that my drywall is mush..

I would start by creating the paper trail. i.e. fill out the paperwork that they request for a work order/ work request. List your concerns about smell/mold/allergies etc., tell them you have concern that it wasn't cleaned up properly. Do all this with a smile and lots of please and thank you's.

Then, report back with what they do :-)

[MikkiStreak]

I had a similar issue in an apartment when I first moved to Dallas. There was a hole in the exterior of the apt building that caused water to get inside my walls. I couldn't figure out why the heck in one year, I wound up getting sick like 5-6 times, when I'm normally a person who gets sick maybe once every 2-3 years. It wasn't until I was preparing to move out, that I pulled some artwork off my walls and found a big patch of mold coming thru the wall. In my situation, the maintenance people patched the exterior brick so no more water could come through, and then sprayed the interior wall, but refused to open the wall up and dry it out, etc... It took several weeks, but eventually, the most I could get them to agree to, was to vacate the apartment early without being considered as breaking the lease. I think they were hesitant to really treat it as a mold situation, because there might be some disclosure laws that would have impacted their ability to re-lease the apartment to someone else.

[prncfarquad]

I have been in the apartment industry for 19 years now. I agree with making a paper trail and letting your office know about the smells and drywall. I don't know the management companies policy where you live but if drywall gets wet in one of my apartments it comes out! PERIOD.

We have had about 35 apartments have pipes break in the last week and have most of the repairs completed at this point (all the pipes are repaired, just not all the drywall). Not sure how many pipes your property had break but if it is a ton drywall repairs may come slowly.

We have also allowed people to move to vacant apartments if their home was unlivable (ceiling collapsed etc.)

If you have a TAA lease there is a section about repairs and acts of nature read those and follow the guides set forth. They are allowed "reasonable" time for repairs but who determines "reasonable" is questionable. Your lease is your friend as well as ours so use it to make sure they take care of your issues.

As far as using it for leverage in your new lease. As a whole the apartment industry is suffering right now so that might work to your advantage. But use sparingly some management companies don't like being told what to do and will show you the door.

Hope this helps

[Bruce M. Morris]

Also I am sure you got photos of the condition of the walls to show how they look THIS week.

[Jeff_Green]

Yes, before you complain about the situation and it not getting handled, you need to create official work orders through the office so there is a record of it.

It's only been a few days and they may be pretty busy with all these freezes. Apartment complexes generally don't want to let things like this go because they won't be able to rent it out until it's fixed if you leave. Give them a chance to fix it and then if they don't correct the problem then worry about what to do next.

[venchka]

What Jeff said. AND. Start looking. If they haven't fixed, or at least started by ripping out all the wet stuff-including new carpet, by the end of your lease I would bail out. Pronto.

Said by someone who lived in New Orleans a long time. I know what happens to homes that get water in them. You need all new carpet & pad.

[Nocturnus]

I've started my paper trail today. All the pics I took the night of were from my camera phone. My only problem is I have less then 3 weeks on this lease, and that's not enough time for me to save all the money for moving and deposits.

This is the 3rd apt I have lived in that had water leaks. The other 2 did not do anything to repair damage while I was there, even after submitting requests. But I didn't care since I was moving out soon after each of those.