Posting this question for a friend. It has been many years since I have rented and I am frankly at a loss as to what rights she may, or may not, have.
Anyway, a friend of the family (college aged) rented an apartment at the Corners At Crystal Lake here in Winston in January of this year. Over the ~ 5 months that she has lived there she has had problems with water leaks from pipes on 3 separate instances. The leaks seem to be coming from pipes from an upstairs unit. The management has 'dealt' with the leak each time by just painting the ceiling....not actually fixing the problem. She is now having issues with mold in her unit.
She has tried to break the lease since she is just tired of the constant leaks, the potential health hazards with the mold and the refusal of management to truly address the issue and fix it.
They have basically given her 3 options:
1. Move to another unit within the same complex. She doesn't really want to do this for fear of having the same issues and because of how management has proven that they don't address isssues.
2. Break her lease and pay 2 months rent. She says that this isn't really an option for her as she does not have the extra cash to just throw away 2 months rent.
3. Move to another property owned by the same management company. She doesn't really want to do this either as all of her options would cost her at least an extra $100 per month and she would still be dealing with the same management company.
They also told her if she moves to another unit within that property or to another property her lease would start over....tying her to this managment company for another 12 months from the date she moved. She feels trapped in a bad situation and doesn't know if she has any legal grounds to break the lease without being penalized. She just wants out and wants to look elsewhere. She has wondered if getting the Health Dept involved (or at least threatening to) due to the potential health issues with the mold would be of any use.
What advice do you all have that I can pass on to her?
Anyway, a friend of the family (college aged) rented an apartment at the Corners At Crystal Lake here in Winston in January of this year. Over the ~ 5 months that she has lived there she has had problems with water leaks from pipes on 3 separate instances. The leaks seem to be coming from pipes from an upstairs unit. The management has 'dealt' with the leak each time by just painting the ceiling....not actually fixing the problem. She is now having issues with mold in her unit.
She has tried to break the lease since she is just tired of the constant leaks, the potential health hazards with the mold and the refusal of management to truly address the issue and fix it.
They have basically given her 3 options:
1. Move to another unit within the same complex. She doesn't really want to do this for fear of having the same issues and because of how management has proven that they don't address isssues.
2. Break her lease and pay 2 months rent. She says that this isn't really an option for her as she does not have the extra cash to just throw away 2 months rent.
3. Move to another property owned by the same management company. She doesn't really want to do this either as all of her options would cost her at least an extra $100 per month and she would still be dealing with the same management company.
They also told her if she moves to another unit within that property or to another property her lease would start over....tying her to this managment company for another 12 months from the date she moved. She feels trapped in a bad situation and doesn't know if she has any legal grounds to break the lease without being penalized. She just wants out and wants to look elsewhere. She has wondered if getting the Health Dept involved (or at least threatening to) due to the potential health issues with the mold would be of any use.
What advice do you all have that I can pass on to her?
