Need Advice Regarding Roaches, Pregnancy, and Breaking Lease (apartment complex, tenants, Credit Bureau)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have lived in the same apartment complex for the past 14 months. We were happy with everything but wished to upgrade to a 2 bedroom apartment at the conclusion of our first year. Therefore, we moved our items one building over and have been in our larger apartment for the last two months.
For reference, I am three months pregnant and am asthmatic. The first issue we noticed was a strong smoke smell in the common hallway upon entering our building that trickles into our apartment as well. While we investigated to find out if there was really anything to be done, we found that other tenants in the building do have the right to smoke in their own apartments, and it was decided that the issue could be lived with. We definitely smell smoke in our living area from time to time, but feel that it may not be worth the battle.
However, within the past week or two, small bugs have started to appear in our bathrooms. 1 or 2 seem to make an appearance each evening. Finally, I figured out that these are cockroach nymphs. We did inform management immediately, and they will be sending out a pest control service tomorrow. While pest control will hopefully be able to narrow down the source of the infestation, the most likely explanation seems that an apartment (or several apartments) around us are already infested and that we are getting the overflow. Quite frankly, I know that cockroach infestations can take several months (if not years) to solve, and that we cannot necessarily count on our neighbors to take correct precautions to "starve out" the roaches. If possible, I would like to leave before the infestation gets worse- I do not want to take the chance of having the roaches infest more and more of our belongings and apartment. I am allergic to cockroaches and CANNOT be around them. At this sensitive point in pregnancy, I am not sure how safe exposure to pesticides would be either.
We are planning to sit down with the property manager tomorrow and try to negotiate lease termination. While we couldn't find the exact figure in our lease, I believe that the fee is about 2 months rent. We are happy to pay this amount to get out as soon as possible, but may try to negotiate for a lower fee.
Do you guys have any suggestions for getting the most out of a talk with the property manager? Has anyone dealt with a similar situation and had to break a lease as a result? I am not sure if asthma/a cockroach allergy is something that could get us out of the lease with medical documentation (I am in Michigan and I am not sure if it is "enough" here). Thank you in advance for any advice/suggestions you can give.
Also, if we do pay the early termination fee, would the apartments still be able to report us to the credit bureaus for some reason?
Buy some Combat Roach traps or Combat Roach gel in the tube. The stuff is a miracle. You likely aren't going to have a multi-year roach problem or even a multi-month problem if they are spraying now. It's not like they refused to take action or it's not like you keep calling them back. It's the first time and you aren't giving it ample time to rectify.
Based on that, you can always ask if they can allow you to pay 1 month for lease break fee instead of 2 and see what they say. Or ask if there is any way to avoid the entire lease break fee and tell them your issues. Then stay silent and wait for them to answer before you try for 1 month instead of 2 as the 2nd option. If they agree to any lower lease break fee - ask to get it in writing and get the person's name that promised it. because that person might not work there by the time you move and what if nobody else knew about the promise. Or if that person forgets that they told her verbally, etc.
Thank you both for the advice. I definitely have not given things a chance to rectify- these things are my worst nightmare. I will see what the exterminator says tomorrow as well as the property manager. I have no desire to go after anyone or anything- they are doing what they're supposed to do for sure. However, I am really tempted to get out of the situation now. I will make sure to ask the pest control people how long they think it will take to solve the problem and how severe it might be.
You can break your lease whenever you want without a reason, but you can't always break it penalty free. And no, breaking your lease is not a 'bad' thing...not paying your rent is.
As for the two bugs....it was two bugs, hardly an infestation in your bathroom. Let pest control come and do their thing...they might need to come out more than once, and that's ok and that's normal. Ask your landlord to inspect the other units and treat them as well. A good landlord won't mind doing this to protect his investment.
I think the smoke would bother me more than two bugs.
You can break your lease whenever you want without a reason, but you can't always break it penalty free. And no, breaking your lease is not a 'bad' thing...not paying your rent is.
As for the two bugs....it was two bugs, hardly an infestation in your bathroom. Let pest control come and do their thing...they might need to come out more than once, and that's ok and that's normal. Ask your landlord to inspect the other units and treat them as well. A good landlord won't mind doing this to protect his investment.
I think the smoke would bother me more than two bugs.
The smoke definitely is awful to deal with!
Just to clarify though, it has been 2 bugs every night for several weeks, the majority of which we have been able to kill (not 2 bugs altogether)It is often said that if you see one roach, there are many more where you cannot see. It is still hopefully not too bad of an issue, but we will see.
Thanks for reassurance about breaking the lease not being the worst thing ever- we have a meeting wi H management today and will see what they say.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.