The Following is a letter I wrote describing what we(and the people above us) went through for a month:
Here is the letter:
Greetings-
We regret to inform you that we will be moving out of the apartment on 231 2nd Ave. This letter shall serve as our 30 day notice.
We arrived at this decision due primarily to the problems associated with our bathroom. A brief history, over a year ago we had a major flood in our bathroom, it was said to have been caused by a broken pipe. We were forced to throw out countless personal hygiene products as well as bandages and first aid supplies that were ruined and now unsanitary. The pipe was fixed and we assumed that was the end of it.
About 6 months later, it happened again. After both of these instances a service was sent in to suck up the water in our carpet.
The larger problems and the events that precipitate our decision, stared on May 6th 2006(Saturday). We awoke to find wet, soaked carpeting in the bathroom. We phoned Ed (the matinance person assigned to our property.) early that morning around 7am. No answer. We phoned again around noon. No answer. We phoned WSRM left a message. We phoned Ed a third time that afternoon. No answer, no callback. Finally, around 10pm, water started “raining” down in one corner of our bathroom ceiling. We phoned Ed, WSRM, then the emergency numbers and the emergency cell numbers.
Eighteen (18) hours after our original call, we received a call back; it was WSRM stating that they were sending someone over to see what was going on. He arrived around 11pm or so, looked at our ceiling, went upstairs and examined their bathroom and then stated “looks like a leak”.
The next day, we received a call stating that they would contact Ed and send him over on Monday. Ed did arrive and assessed the damage to our floor, then went upstairs to “fix” the problem. Later that day he stated that he had reset the toilet and if that didn’t work that WSRM would need to call some plumbers. That evening, it happened again around 10pm.
In the morning I phoned Ed and got no answer, no callback. We phoned him 3 times throughout the day; finally calling WSRM we were told that they had calls into several “professional plumbers”. No one called the next day. We phoned and were told that they were still looking.
On Thursday May 11th, WSRM entered our home stating that they had attempted to phone. Upon entering Kirsten was told that the apartment was in an unacceptable state and unless it was “taken care of” they would not be able to renew our lease.
Admittedly, there was an abundance of ‘clutter’ around the apartment; in addition, there were a number of dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. However, there were no bags of open garbage, or open food boxes (what Ginny assumed was cereal was indivualy wrapped meal replacement bars in open boxes). Just as stated before, a lot of clutter.
We went over to WSRM upset and angry. We were told they were doing all they could. After Forbes and the plumbers had been in, it seemed the problem had been solved.
We were told to contact Ed the following week to see about repair to the ceiling and carpet (now having been wet 13 days and has developed a musty odor) He came and put up sheet-rock and replastered the ceiling the 18th-20th. Halfway through this process, Kirsten noticed some leaking from the pipe behind the toilet. Ed stated that he had noticed that too and placed some calking.
The following Monday the 22nd, after all this work had been completed, there was a “rain-storm” in our bathroom worse than all the others save the original flood more than a year ago. After some investigation with our neighbors upstairs, we discovered that the problem was coming from their bathtub. We phoned Ed, WSRM, and all the emergency numbers.
The next few days, contractors started on the repairs. Our neighbors upstairs moved out, and it was at this point we decided to leave. As of the 27th of May, we still had wet carpeting! This was a month after we reported the problem on the 6th of May.
In doing the “new” repair work, they had to remove the walls around the toilet. One can witness black mold growing on the wood and mortar. They also had to remove some of the sub-flooring under the toilet due to water damage. We were also told that the sewer line had a crack and was leaking fumes from top to bottom.
In conclusion, we have attempted to be patient, however, at this point, or patience has worn thin and we are moving out.
