Do I have a case if a problem in my apartment is a health problem?

Question

My apartment manager is absolutely awful. I have a 9 month old son who has been put on breathing treatments due to the mold coming from my ac unit. I informed her of this verbally and nothing was done, so I hired a licensed professional to inspect the mold. It came back as hazards mold. Once I got the results I printed them out and also made a list of all of the problems in the apartment. I brought them to her and had her sign the papers and make me a copy. They came in to fix the ac unit, their idea of fixing this is taping the leak with duct tape!!! I let the manager know verbally and she came to take a look and said its fixed. The mold inspector is coming do a follow up to test again which will be exactly a week since I informed them with a written notice. If this comes back as elevated mold again can I sue? Also the painter came in and got paint on my couch, when I went in the office it was closed so I couldn't tell anyone till today, should I get her signature in writing saying I told her about the paint? I live in Texas.

Answer 1

First, don't trust your landlord to sign anything...she may and that would be great, but sending it certified letter with return receipt  (get a copy first!) may get her attention a little stronger.  Who's the OWNER of the building?  Send them a copy as well.  Who runs the health  dept. of your city/town?  Send them a copy as well. Place all their names as "CC" at the bottom of the letter so they are all informed of who got what.  Ask for guidance of what to write via the health dept./mold inspector. They may want to help you more than you think.

This person is being a slumlord.  In the meantime, I suggest you get yourself an air purifier for the days it's not being tested...your son's health depends on good air!

I had the same issue in my heating unit way back when (forced hot air vents) and the landlord had no intention of fixing it. Cost too much.  You may, unfortunately, just have to move out.

As for the couch..good luck.  Not sure anything will be done about that. Sounds like this apt. mgr. hires some "less than professional helpers".

Answer 2

In the United States, you can sue anyone you want to sue.  Will you win ?  Maybe and maybe not.  However, if you DO sue, you can expect that your lease will not be renewed when it expires.  When you need a reference for your next rental, guess what it will contain ?

Use your head, and work with management to resolve this situation.

Answer 3

Document the damage to your couch.

If you can document the mold you should notify the Department of Health immediately. Documented health hazards are cause to break the lease.