Issues with rental apartment

rolexeagle1

Hey guys,

So a couple things with my apartment. Shortly after I moved in in May there was an issue with the toilet cistern one day while I was at work and it flooded pretty much half of the apartment, toilet, closet that backs onto toilet, hallway inside apartment and leaked out into the hallway of the complex as bathroom wall backs onto the hallway.

Let the landlord know, her husband came down and replaced the broken part of toilet causing the leak, and he wet vacced the carpets, closet, hall, complex hallway. he said it would be fine.

Looked under the carpet a few days later and it was all still damp and wet, so I got my own dehymidifier and dried it all out.

We keep the apartment warm and well ventilated but have noticed mould starting to appear around the walls in the bedroom and window in bedroom (we are on ground floor).

Dont know if this would be related to the leak in June as it was in another area of the apartment.

The maintainenece guy finally came around about 2 weeks ago and said he had to replace the whole backing of the toilet as it was all rotten, he spent about 7 hours doing it, sorted.

So I come home today and notice all these little groups of fly like things in corners of the roof in hallway and bedroom.

We keep the apartment clean as myself and the girlfriend are kinda neat freaks.

My girlfriend today lifted up her make up basket from the bedroom floor and there are about 50 little cocoon type things under it, she freaked out.

On closer inspection I moved my bedside locker and noticed more of these cocoon type things underneath it and in corner of bedroom. I fear we may have some sort of infestation.

Also the cooker in the apartment has started acting up lately and only turns on when it feels like it.

Just wondering what course of action I should take as we dont really want to live in a place where it is infested with these fly thingys, especially where we sleep!!!!:eek:

Photos attaches of mould and fly cocoon things!

rolexeagle1

and

jeni

That mould alone is a health hazzard,

My bro just moved apartments over same problem with mould, he got his full deposit back and left,

Tell your land lord its unsafe and you want out

bhamsteve

The mould is usually from insufficient ventilation and drying clothes indoors. Could be from the wet carpets. Do you have the vents above the windows closed? Try cleaning the mould with bleach, air the rooms and see if it comes back. Not sure about the insects, could be silverfish?

StillWaters

Yeah, looks like silverfish to me. Fairly bad infestation though. Do you want to stay there OP? If you want out, I think you could argue the case for breaking the lease.

rolexeagle1

We dont really want to stay here after we found all the bugs, esp cause they are in the bedroom.

first time renting so dont really knw hoe to approach it.

Oh also the storage heater in the living room has never worked forgot to mention that earlier.

rolexeagle1

bhamsteve wrote: »

The mould is usually from insufficient ventilation and drying clothes indoors. Could be from the wet carpets. Do you have the vents above the windows closed? Try cleaning the mould with bleach, air the rooms and see if it comes back. Not sure about the insects, could be silverfish?

Vents in window are open yeah and I usually open window in bedroom too. Dont dry clothes in there at all

bhamsteve

Did you try cleaning the mould off the walls? It could be a one off due to the flooding of the flat. If the insects are a concern ask your landlord to arrange pest controllers to have a look at it.

Miss Congeniality

bhamsteve wrote: »

The mould is usually from insufficient ventilation and drying clothes indoors. Could be from the wet carpets. Do you have the vents above the windows closed? Try cleaning the mould with bleach, air the rooms and see if it comes back. Not sure about the insects, could be silverfish?

Just a quick note on this - Be careful if you do go cleaning the mould....especially if using bleach on mould...while it may kill some of the mould, it will actually bleach it so you cant see it and won't see if its still there when it dries....so ensure you do clean it all up...:)

Good luck with everything...

rolexeagle1

deep cleaned the place on Saturday, got rid of mould and all the bugs everywhere. Wake up Sunday have another look, they were back.

Told the landlord and she said she wants to have it investigated, surely the fact they returned on sunday after we cleaned the whole place helps my cause. We really dont feel comfortable in there now and just want to get out.

Rent is paid to the end of the month and I mentioned to the LL that we want out at the end of the month and politely asked for the deposit back.

Any other advice?

Pawwed Rig

You will need to give the landlord time to rectify the situation. I would recommend putting your issues in writing (dated) and give her a couple of weeks to sort everything out.
If she doesn't then you may be justified in breaking the lease. Best solution would be resolution of the issues as then lease is intact, you don't have the hassle of moving and landlord still gets rent, everybody happy.

rolexeagle1

Does anyone know the length of time that would have to be given to end a lease.

1 year lease have been there for 8 months. Lease agreement does not state any time from for ending the lease.

D3PO

OP by the sounds of it your Landlord seems to be pretty good. Sorted the flooding issue immediately and is on the insect thing immediately too.

Clearly its not been great for you but if you reflect on it you have a good landlord and although you have been unlucky with some major issues if he gets it sorted I think it would be folly just to try bolt for a new place. The grass isn't always greener on the other site TBH

ghogie91

That place looks like a dump

djimi

srumball wrote: »

Does anyone know the length of time that would have to be given to end a lease.

1 year lease have been there for 8 months. Lease agreement does not state any time from for ending the lease.

If its a fixed term lease then you cant just end it; you have to give the landlord opportunity to resolve the issues, and if they dont act in a timely fashion then you can move to terminate the lease. Contact Threshold and they will talk you through your options, but its not as simple as just saying I want out and expect to be able to leave with your deposit.

rolexeagle1

djimi wrote: »

If its a fixed term lease then you cant just end it; you have to give the landlord opportunity to resolve the issues, and if they dont act in a timely fashion then you can move to terminate the lease. Contact Threshold and they will talk you through your options, but its not as simple as just saying I want out and expect to be able to leave with your deposit.

Oh yeah of course, didnt expect it to be easy.

Thanks for the help