What is the name of your state? TX
Hello,
My apartment complex is less than two years old and they have a deck above a set of apartments, which mine happens to be below, that are experiencing terrible leaks. The first time a leak occurred, it was coming in thru my pendant light in the kitchen (and we're not talking drip drop, we're talking full on coming down thru the light fixture like it was outside) which my immediate concern of course was a fire since it's coming thru the light. I reported it, they sent maintenance out in the middle of the night and they basically put a bucket out and said that's all the could do. A few weeks later, they had the contracting company (based out of FL) come out and they assessed the leak and told me they had patched it. I raised issues about warping that I noticed in the ceiling and that the rain was so bad it was causing elements in the apartment to separate from the ceiling (i.e. there's noticeable gaps and cracking around the pendant light where the water was coming in and several other places around the kitchen area where maybe past leaks were prior to me living here). A few weeks after the contractors left and "fixed" everything we had a bad storm and not only did I have a leak worse than the first time in the kitchen. I had another new leak dropping water in over the sink and a new leak in the living room. There as also a pouch in the kitchen where you can tell water was collecting and there was a dark area all over the back part of my living room where it looked like water had saturated the ceiling. While all this water is coming in, I was calling the office and got a hold of the property manager who basically told me that there's nothing they can do in the middle of the storm (basically I needed to calm down and I'm over-reacting and what do I expect them to do to stop this). I found maintenance in the hallway (because we lost power and I was unable to submit tickets) and told them about what was going on and they came out looked around and said there's not much they can do because they can't work out in the storm. So they gave me more buckets.
After this storm passed, I put in a bunch of service tickets (the same as the first time) raising concerns that there's cracks where all these leaks were and I had concerns about the structural stability and the potential of mold among other things. Maintenance responded looked around and said they'd tell their supervisor about all the cracks and nothing has happened since then. At 3am today, I was awakened by the crack of thunder and I'm up now because I have to make sure I stay on top of where water's coming in because I have expensive stuff in my apartment and the way the apartment complex has been distancing themselves from this issue I have a feeling when property damage occurs, they're going to put it on me and my insurance to cover my belongings. Shortly after the storm started, I had two leaks in the living room (same place as long time) coming thru this long crack that formed after the last leak/storm. Once again, I reached out and put in a service ticket and demanded they do something and explained that they're quick to say they can't do anything DURING the storms but when there's no storms they're also not doing anything to be proactive in the event of the next one (which we're showing rain off and on all throughout the week).
I'm honestly shocked that this isn't more a priority to the property management as it's an electrical hazard, mold hazard, property damage hazard, and I have legitimate fears that every time it rains I have to make my way home to try to be ahead of these leaks to prevent my stuff and my unit from getting damaged (i.e. water sitting on the laminate floors for so long can cause warping).
I guess after all of this my question is what are my next steps? I'm documenting everything with photos and videos as it happens. I'm submitting service tickets so there's a paper trail there. I'm reading online that I should call the city (311) and report the property but I don't want there to be hostility because I still have a little less than a year left on my lease and I would hate to live out the rest of my lease with hostility or retaliation from the property management/staff. I'm also reading that some people have suggested withholding rent (but keeping it in an escrow account in case it goes to court), but that can cause issues on its own. Is breaking the lease an option or demanding they put me up in alternative housing until they can get this remedied? And I want to be clear, they're responding to the tickets but they're really not doing anything to remedy the problem (like I'm thinking at a minimum you could tarp the deck above these affected units to help with the water or build a awning or something to permanently help deflect the water away from these units which it would still collect in certain areas but may help to minimize the problem overall). Is there a tenants right organization that exist in TX to try to get someone to force them to fix this the right way and follow-up? I heard a suggestion about calling my renters insurance company and reporting it because it may get them to send someone out to perform an inspection? At this point I'm open.
Sorry this was so long and any advice is greatly appreciated.
Hello,
My apartment complex is less than two years old and they have a deck above a set of apartments, which mine happens to be below, that are experiencing terrible leaks. The first time a leak occurred, it was coming in thru my pendant light in the kitchen (and we're not talking drip drop, we're talking full on coming down thru the light fixture like it was outside) which my immediate concern of course was a fire since it's coming thru the light. I reported it, they sent maintenance out in the middle of the night and they basically put a bucket out and said that's all the could do. A few weeks later, they had the contracting company (based out of FL) come out and they assessed the leak and told me they had patched it. I raised issues about warping that I noticed in the ceiling and that the rain was so bad it was causing elements in the apartment to separate from the ceiling (i.e. there's noticeable gaps and cracking around the pendant light where the water was coming in and several other places around the kitchen area where maybe past leaks were prior to me living here). A few weeks after the contractors left and "fixed" everything we had a bad storm and not only did I have a leak worse than the first time in the kitchen. I had another new leak dropping water in over the sink and a new leak in the living room. There as also a pouch in the kitchen where you can tell water was collecting and there was a dark area all over the back part of my living room where it looked like water had saturated the ceiling. While all this water is coming in, I was calling the office and got a hold of the property manager who basically told me that there's nothing they can do in the middle of the storm (basically I needed to calm down and I'm over-reacting and what do I expect them to do to stop this). I found maintenance in the hallway (because we lost power and I was unable to submit tickets) and told them about what was going on and they came out looked around and said there's not much they can do because they can't work out in the storm. So they gave me more buckets.
After this storm passed, I put in a bunch of service tickets (the same as the first time) raising concerns that there's cracks where all these leaks were and I had concerns about the structural stability and the potential of mold among other things. Maintenance responded looked around and said they'd tell their supervisor about all the cracks and nothing has happened since then. At 3am today, I was awakened by the crack of thunder and I'm up now because I have to make sure I stay on top of where water's coming in because I have expensive stuff in my apartment and the way the apartment complex has been distancing themselves from this issue I have a feeling when property damage occurs, they're going to put it on me and my insurance to cover my belongings. Shortly after the storm started, I had two leaks in the living room (same place as long time) coming thru this long crack that formed after the last leak/storm. Once again, I reached out and put in a service ticket and demanded they do something and explained that they're quick to say they can't do anything DURING the storms but when there's no storms they're also not doing anything to be proactive in the event of the next one (which we're showing rain off and on all throughout the week).
I'm honestly shocked that this isn't more a priority to the property management as it's an electrical hazard, mold hazard, property damage hazard, and I have legitimate fears that every time it rains I have to make my way home to try to be ahead of these leaks to prevent my stuff and my unit from getting damaged (i.e. water sitting on the laminate floors for so long can cause warping).
I guess after all of this my question is what are my next steps? I'm documenting everything with photos and videos as it happens. I'm submitting service tickets so there's a paper trail there. I'm reading online that I should call the city (311) and report the property but I don't want there to be hostility because I still have a little less than a year left on my lease and I would hate to live out the rest of my lease with hostility or retaliation from the property management/staff. I'm also reading that some people have suggested withholding rent (but keeping it in an escrow account in case it goes to court), but that can cause issues on its own. Is breaking the lease an option or demanding they put me up in alternative housing until they can get this remedied? And I want to be clear, they're responding to the tickets but they're really not doing anything to remedy the problem (like I'm thinking at a minimum you could tarp the deck above these affected units to help with the water or build a awning or something to permanently help deflect the water away from these units which it would still collect in certain areas but may help to minimize the problem overall). Is there a tenants right organization that exist in TX to try to get someone to force them to fix this the right way and follow-up? I heard a suggestion about calling my renters insurance company and reporting it because it may get them to send someone out to perform an inspection? At this point I'm open.
Sorry this was so long and any advice is greatly appreciated.
