EDIT: I live in Georgia.
This might seem obvious. It does to me. But then again I've never had to do this before, and I know how complicated renter's agreements are.
So, my brother and I are roommates in a major metropolitan area. We decide we want to move to a nice upper middle class area closer to the city. We found this place online. It's more expensive than living with roommates in the suburbs, but affordable for our price range. Two Bed, two bath with a master bedroom, dining room, and an enclosed sunroom off to the side. 1400 square ft. It's right off the interstate, between two large parks, nice neighborhood shopping centers surrounding, a nice public library, and JCC nearby. There's a scenic pond, tennis courts, a pool, a gym. Something just below a gated community.
We checked out reviews. Nothing spectacular, but nothing too horrible, either. Maintenance is slow (where isn't it?) It's had bug problems in the past, but those seemed to be the older reviews and apparently it was under new management. Met the staff and they seemed friendly enough, facilities looked clean and organized. Great neighborhood in a good location, so why not? I've dealt with slow maintenance before.
Typical story, it went to shit. We've had a leak in the kitchen ceiling that leaked out brown water. That took five times of alerting the office, and three times of the maintenance guy coming by then leaving, before they finally fixed it, and only after it got much worse.
For the first couple months it was fairly bug free. You might see a roach or two every now and then, but nothing to worry about much. But after a while we're seeing roaches scurry away every time we turn on the lights. We think maybe we just need to keep a cleaner house, so we don't leave any food out and take the trash out immediately, but the problem still gets worse. My brother and I think it over and neither one of us have ever seen any evidence of a pest control guy coming by, even though we pay a fee, and it's specifically stipulated in the lease the complex covers that. He has since come by once about a month ago, set out some traps in the kitchen and never returned. My brother has also had ants in his bedroom.
The final straw came earlier this week. I saw a tiny baby snake, a few inches long, outside our front door slithering away. That's scary enough, but we live next to a small pond onsite, so I figure that's where he must have come from. I made a mental note to inform the office. A couple nights later there's another one the same size in the corner of our apartment. And even worse, having grow up on a farm, I notice familiar diamond shapes on its back that tells me it might be a baby rattlesnake. At first I try to remove it myself by getting him to go into a tin box. He went in, but got out as I scrambled to put on the lid to the box, and went under the refrigerator.
At this point I'm done going after it myself. Its late, but we resolve to call the Emergency Maintenance number, and have someone come and remove it. We leave a message and the maintenance guy calls us back and says "Sorry we don't deal with that. We never have."
Couldn't believe what I heard. He suggested we call county Animal Control... which wouldn't open until 11 the next morning. The only other option was for us to hire a 24 hour private pest removal service, which we can't afford.
We saw the snake go from under the fridge into a pipe hole that led behind the dishwasher. Now there was no catching him without professional services, and our apartment was refusing to do anything. Nothing to do but wait til morning and go by the office and raise hell.
I remembered seeing the other baby snake a couple nights before, bringing up the unsettling realization there could be a nest nearby.
My brother goes to work early the next morning, and as he's dropping off some trash at the complex dumpster he sees the maintenance guy who repeats that they "don't deal with that". I go by the office TWICE, the managers are not in, but a guy at the front desk calls the Asst Manager who repeats over the phone that they "don't deal with that" and I have to call someone myself to get it removed.
I left my phone running the whole time to record our conversation. I go on to tell the guy it's a continuing and worsening problem with pest control and that we've seen the bug spray guy once in our entire stay there. He informs me they recently fired the bug spray guy because be wasn't doing his job.
I call the County Animal Control Service number and I'm transferred to a division of the police station. They say it is indeed the responsibility of the apartment complex to "deal with that", or at the very least call someone who can, and to call the Department of Health if they continue to refuse.
I finally catch up with the Assistant Manager, who at first continues to say it's not their problem and to call Animal Services. I say I did, I spoke with the police, and they say YOU have to do it. I then proceed to describe the snake, telling her it's a rattlesnake and the second one I've seen, meaning there could be a nest. That puts a fire under her ass and she starts apologizing and making calls.
I have to go to work at this point, so I leave but my brother comes home and meets someone hired by Terminex Pest Control. Aaaand he basically does nothing. Sets out a few sticky traps in the kitchen, won't remove the dishwasher to see if it's still back there. But he does inform us the warm wet conditions with a plethora of roaches to eat back there are a perfect environment for it. He also poo poos the idea of there being more of them or a nest. Did I mention it was 5:00 on a Friday vafternoon?
So, now I just want out. We've still got a couple months on our lease, but I don't want to spend that time watching every step I take hoping I don't run into a snake. I want my deposit back and I want out immediately without paying any extra fees. The Assistant Manager seemed willing to listen to my demands when I confronted her, so I told her I'd think about it and let her know.
I'm sure the Health Department would love to hear the conversation I had with the employee at the front desk, not to mention the evening news.
I'm pretty sure this is grounds to leave, if for no other reason than the lease stipulates they were supposed to provide pest control and did not. We've been here seven months and have been late on rent once. No damages caused by us other than usual wear and tear.
What else should I be doing? Is there any way to get out of this relatively clean?
Submitted August 21, 2016 at 01:48AM by sauronthegr8 http://ift.tt/2b8D3aD legaladvice
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