Rental property problems and I cant find the info I need, please help!

[Skrappy]

I know this is no ones problem to deal with but mine, but I am having a hard time finding out my rights on the internet.

I moved into a new apartment just over a month ago and have had a leaky kitchen ceiling sense we moved in. The building is older so it DOES have asbestos, and the ceiling leaks water every time the neighbors take a bath(they take a lot). I went to the front office to get a maintenance guy to come fix it the first time I noticed the problem. They have come and looked at it 2 times... The first time they came about 4 days after I told them about the leak, I told them it was happening when the neighbors ran their bath for a long time, they told me it was impossible to be my next door neighbors and that I had no idea what I was talking about, they tinkered with my shower and said it was the overflow and that they fixed the problem. It leaked that night(when the neighbors took a bath) so the next morning I went to the office and told them it wasn't fixed and that they needed to fix it immediately! So 2.5 weeks later, and after 3 more times of yelling at my office, they send the same guy out and he tells me "oh i guess you are right, I'll be right back". A week later and 2 more trips to the office now I have a guy from a contracting company come to my apartment to give an estimate to the office of how much it will cost them to fix. It has been another week now and no word from anyone about getting my ceiling fixed. Over the past 3 weeks I have developed a cough, I am the only one in the house who has it, but I also work from home at a desk right next to the leak. So now I am worried about getting a lung infection from asbestos and mold. On top of everything, and of course THIS is what worries me the most, the leak has spread and gotten worse and as of today is now dropping water into my saltwater tank! I covered the part of my refugium with a trashbag that had the 3 drops of water fall into it and taped it to the tank, so no more water SHOULD leak into my tank.

It is just a stressful situation in general and now its starting to overwhelm me. I have been looking on the internet to find out what I can do and what the rental company is responsible for, but I haven't had any luck, one website sends me to another that sends me to another. So I am hoping someone on here can give me some info or links that may actually help me, instead of just giving me a headache.

Is the rental company responsible for medical bills if I get sick from either mold or the asbestos?
Do they have to pay for a hotel if my home is unsafe?
Do they have to pay for all the livestock in my fish tanks if they die from the leak, or from fixing the leak?
How soon do they have to get the problem fixed from the time I tell them about it?
Can I cancel my lease with no penalty, and even get my deposit and other fees back?
If I have to move because of this problem do they have to pay my moving expenses? (moving hundreds of gallons of fish tanks is neither easy or cheap)

I did have to sign an addendum in the lease that said there may be asbestos in the house. My girlfriend also has renters insurance through progressive for us, but I don't know any of the details about it, that was all her doing. I just think a whole month of having a leaky ceiling with asbestos is ridiculous and if it isn't illegal it should be. Any educated information about this would help me a ton, and I really thank everyone who took the time to read all this as well.

 

[scchase]

This is coming from a professional in these areas. Let me ease at least one fear, as long as you do not disturb the ceiling even with it leaking you have nearly no chance of being affected by asbestos for a lot of different reasons to difficult to cover here. Mainly asbestos has to be friable to be harmful, in a wet state it poses no risk whatsoever. Also without actually having the ceiling tested there is no way to determine for sure that the ceiling has asbestos the waiver you signed is a standard one for dwellings that were built before the mid 80s but do not indicate the presence of asbestos. Once again without testing their is no way to determine for sure that something has asbestos, in 14 years in my profession there have been many times I was sure there was asbestos that came back with negative tests and vice versa.

Now on to the more pressing problem, as to the time frame there is not any defined time in statute that mandates a repair time period however you can pursue legal action on the grounds of unsafe living conditions. Many things can make the time needed to make a repair variable and if indeed there is asbestos in the ceiling and they must remove it to make repairs you can count on vacating the apartment for up to a week. In your case rather then pursuing the issue of mold or asbestos you want to go after the fact (if it is indeed tub water) that the water is untreated sewage. This rather then the other criteria makes the problem a more pressing issue.
As to getting a response from the leasing company, at this point bypass the front office and contact someone higher up in the company. In all likelihood the desk person had little more power than to create a work order for you problem and in my experience continued harassing of these people is counterproductive and as you seen can result in cases where your problem gets moved back in line.
Finally you may have grounds to break the lease and perhaps seek legal recourse but without seeing the lease I cannot delve more into that subject. If you are serious in this area seeking legal council would be your best course of action.

 

[zombie]

+1 to scchase. I would try talking to someone higher up in the company and mention the words "unsafe living condition", "mold", and "untreated sewage" in the conversation. They should get the picture real quick and resolve the problem. If that does not work, you will need to seek legal consultation for an unsafe living suit. Once a suit is filed and notice is sent to the landlord, rent is paid into an escrow account and not to the landlord, so they will be very likely to fix the problem VERY well before the court date to avoid any legal reprocussions.

 

[Skrappy]

Thank you guys for the info, I feel better about the asbestos at least not being able to turn airborn from the leaking water. So now my big concern is mold and how much s#!t/p!$$ is soaked into my wood floors. The guy who came out a week ago from the contracting company said his company has been hired many times to work on these buildings and that they DO have asbestos. He also told me they would be hanging a tarp of some sort around the area in the kitchen to create a positive pressure area where they would be working(may have said negative pressure, as that would make more sense). Also that they would be out here to do the work as soon as they got the OK from the office and even with asbestos and mold it would only take them 3 days, we wouldn't be able to use our kitchen but we also wouldn't have to leave the house. Going to talk to the property manager tomorrow and figure out what the deal is with the company coming to repair my ceiling, but if I don't get satisfying results I will be looking to talk to a lawyer, If the first month is this much trouble I can only imagine how the rest of the year will go. How much will I be looking at paying for a lawyer to handle this, and do you guys know of a good AND affordable one? Also, how much can I hope to get back if I do have to take them to court? Thanks again for your replies and time!

 

[zombie]

If it comes to legal action and you win, if you have the clause in your lease that says "the prevailing party may sue for reasonable attornies fees" then you wont have to pay a dime unless you get a celebrity lawyer. If it doesnt go to court at all, I would expect at least a couple hours of the lawers time at whatever rate they charge for office work (usually 100-200 an hour if you look around for a good price). Those costs will not be reimbursed if it doesnt go to court. If you dont have that clause in your lease, then you could easily be looking as someting in the 1-2k range if it goes to court, but you could recover it from "pain and suffering" and "current or future medical bills". I dont remember the lawer I talked to when I had a similar issue myself, but fortunately for me, just mentioning that I was filing a suit with my lawer got them off their *** to fix the problem and I moved out as soon as I found a new place and my lease went to month-to-month.

 

[Skrappy]

Yeah 2k is almost what it would cost to just walk out the front door now and never look back. I have to find that lease, should be around here someplace. Hopefully if it is absolutely necessary, a threat for legal action will be all I need to get the problem fixed. But best case scenario I walk into his office tomorrow and he shows me that they are coming sometime this week. Crossing my fingers... And thanks so much for being awesome-sauce and answering my questions!

 

[bsharpe]

BTW
Courts are very big on tenant rights. I think that there is a free legal service in Golden, you might want to check it out.

 

[GiraffeCat]

My personal opinion:

Step 1: Get a legal professional to review the lease (to explain your options).
Step 2: Leave as soon as possible (It's your health, so why chance it).

Good Luck,
GC