Shortness of breath after moving into new townhouse rental in Maryland, USA (movers)

[throwaway2827623]

Yesterday, January 1, 2021 was supposed to be the move-in day for a townhouse rental in Maryland, USA.

Two weeks ago, we saw the demo unit— everything was great. However, when signing up they said they didn’t have the unit ready / have a key for the one we would be signing up for, the one we wanted to see.

After getting the key and entering the townhouse we weren’t able to breathe properly. There is a suffocating / “heavy” feeling / ashtray-smell in the air.

Going into diagnosis mode we tested everything, with the air conditioner on we did not smell anything coming out of the vents. With the heater on, we smell a thick sort of smoke smell which makes it difficult to breathe and we both had shortness of breath until we went outside to get fresh air.

The room that holds the heater is LOCKED and only available via maintenance staff. It is in a small enclosed room with a single locked door. We are unable to open the door to see what is causing this issue.

We bought a carbon monoxide and explosive gas detector and everything turned on negative so far last night. The place has no less than 4-5 smoke detectors and also advertises no smoking.

We had to cancel the movers coming yesterday because were unable to stay in the place last night and left it running. We can check the peak concentrations later this morning.

We were unable to stay in the new townhouse last night and had to book a hotel where we are currently.

Opening the windows and turning off the heat does seem to help alleviate 90%+ the smell but the unit has a safety mode where if the temperature drops below a certain level the heat turns on.

Requesting help answering the following questions:

1. Assuming potential remediation is unsuccessful or they are unwilling to pay for it, can we ask the complex to swap for a different unit that we can tour first as nothing has been moved in?

2. If they are unwilling to work with us, do we have any legal recourse against this as it’s the winter and having trouble breathing when the heat is on?

3. Has anyone been in or seen a similar case like this and if so, how best to proceed?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[lovetotravel15]

I would not pay rent. This unit is not habitable!
I would unfortunately delay your movers until the landlord remedies this.
There could be mold in the unit possibly.
Moving is very expensive and you don't want to move your furnishings into this situation and shortly after, move again.