Bad Situation in my apartment, need advice

About a month ago I noticed a terrible sewage smell after a big rain storm in my apartment. I am on the 5th floor in a 6 story building..

I went to my housing and they said that the sewer had gotten stopped up..they took care of it and it should be fine..

last weekend it rained really hard and come monday i had a moist wet smell in my apartment...mainly in my 2nd bedroom that holds my desk and workout equipment and the bathroom...they are both on the same wall..

i figured it would get better in a day and all week the smell got worse and worse and worse..

like someone left a wet towel somewhere times 10...

i called my housing thursday and they said they would try and send someone to look at it friday..

come friday i got the run around..and went to the housing office, had a screaming match with the witch secretary and finally the boss came to my apartment, who admited that it is a bad smell and well its friday...they cant do anything about it til maybe monday...

the smell is horrendous, i can barely stay in my apartment.. on friday nite it got so bad i called 311 and made a complaint against the housing and for now i m sitting in this horrid moist wet smell that is possibly toxic mold or sewege and i m just sitting here crying b/c it smells so bad and no1 seems to give a damn..

what if monday comes and they say they cant find the source or they dont get to finding out the problem??...

at this point my apartment is practically unlivable..and i told them they wont see a dime of rent until it is fixed..

i m so upset,,,is there anything else i can do besides call 311 again?

if monday comes and nothing gets done what should i do? i m so mad and upset right now :(

Message edited 3/15/2008 10:24:27 PM.

Re: Bad Situation in my apartment, need advice

unfortunately, calling 311 and filing complaints with the state/county is your only recourse. if the situation gets worse, see if you can meet with an attorney....... maybe you can threaten to sue for alternate housing costs?

Re: Bad Situation in my apartment, need advice

Continue to call 311. The city takes these kinds of concerns very serious and calling 311 is the appropriate thing to do.

They will definitely take this situation seriously and contact the landlord or housing management to see why this hasn't been handled yet.

Call on Sunday tell them the landlord refused to do anything over the weekend and you expect this to be taken care of ASAP.

The 311 operators will most likely forward this to the department of housing and urban development (the people that handle the apartment buildings) and maybe the health department as well.

If the city sends an inspector the landlord could get fined. Believe me they will be concerned about this. Tell the landlord you called 311 and say they are sending an inspector. That will make them move faster.

Re: Bad Situation in my apartment, need advice

thanks guys, i m going to call 311 tomorrow if nothing is done b/c living like this just wont work

thanks again!!

Re: Bad Situation in my apartment, need advice

You can also refuse to pay the rent. I know it's a drastic move, but your situation sounds like there are actual health concerns and you might have to stay with family or friends. Do you live in the city? (I assume you do b/c of the 311 reference.) I will ask my husband--he is an attorney and he volunteers at the housing court for tenants once a week, so he knows this type of stuff pretty well.

Hang in there!

Re: Bad Situation in my apartment, need advice

i have been staying at my moms b/c the smell is just overwhelming and it wreaks in 90% of my apartment.. i currently have every window open and towels stuffed under the door to stop the smell from getting out. I live in Queens.

If you could ask his opinion I would really appreciate it.
I definitly plan on refusing to pay rent if they dont do something about this being that my apartment is unlivable at the moment.

ty

Re: Bad Situation in my apartment, need advice

You could also tell the landlord that if they don't do something soon that you are going to call "7 on your side" or one of those type shows.

Sorry you're going through that!

Re: Bad Situation in my apartment, need advice

I'm so sorry this is happening to you Mich!

I hope they take care of this horrible situation PDQ!!!

Re: Bad Situation in my apartment, need advice

OMG Mich I thought by now this issue was resolved. I can't believe they haven't taken care of this yet.



If anything you're more than welcome to come stay with me until everything is done

Re: Bad Situation in my apartment, need advice

Posted by MeeshkaMich

OMG Mich I thought by now this issue was resolved. I can't believe they haven't taken care of this yet.



If anything you're more than welcome to come stay with me until everything is done