Help. I need serious answers with knowledge...We live in an apartment infested with wolf spiders.....?

Question

we've notified our leasing office several times and they send some guy that comes and "sprays". well, a few hours after they spray we see more spiders...ive had to go through our apartment and shove toilet paper in cracks and creases that i see the spiders coming from. we've found them by our 3 month old babies bed, on her car seat, and even on her play mat. if one bites her we'll have to take her to the doctor. today i woke up and found 2 so i killed them then brought them to the leasing office. they said they'd bring someone out again to investigate. the truth is we have a serious infestation that i believe is in the walls. what are our options? i want to call the health department on them. we either want a new apartment our to get out. the problem is we have 8 months left on the lease. im telling you we have these wolf spiders everywhere, even inside the light fictures. its not a joke especially when you have a baby.

PLEASE HELP WITH ANY LEGAL ADVICE

Answer 1

Check the lease for any responsibilities of the management.  There must be something that says they must keep (or have rented you) accommodation in a habitable condition.  Make sure any communications you have with management in future are in writing ... emails are great because they are dated independently by the ISP and they are acceptable in court.  Also, you must get date-stamped photos.

If it were me, I would definitely contact the health department and landlord-tenant agency, merely asking what you can do in this situation, then follow their guidelines.  If the landlord doesn't comply with your request, as dictated by the health department or the landlord-tenant agency, then the only thing you can do is to move.  

Let them sue you for breaking the lease, then explain your efforts to get the situation resolved to the judge.  With photos and dated communication, you should have no trouble convincing a judge that you did the right thing for your child.  And judges are most concerned with the best interests of any child.  Good luck!

Answer 2

Best advice is to contact a lawyer locally as each city and state have differing laws.  See if one can give you a free consultation, if not file a legal complaint with your local police precinct, they can give you advice on how to proceed from there.

Answer 3

Try using a fogger and bug bomb the place yourself.  That might work.  If not, the leasign company may need to be forced to treat the entire complex inside and out.  If all they're doing is driving them to another apartment by spraying, they'll come right back when they're done.  If all else fails, find somewhere else to live.  You shouldn't put your childs health at risk.

Answer 4

Call the department of heath

Answer 5

Just a suggestion: call local law enforcement, explain the circumstances, the complaints you have made to the management, and that your baby is in danger. After the officer explains to management that the child is endangered, the landlord should swing into gear. Good luck. I know those things are pretty aggressive.

An afterthought; get a few tubes of $2.00 DAP silicone caulk and a 3.00 caulk gun at Lowes. Home Depot, or Walmart, to seal any cracks or crevices.

Answer 6

Get someone to represent you (an attorney). Call the board of health too. This is unacceptable living conditions. And you are right they are in the walls. there is probably a Queen. spaying will do nothing. This leasing office needs to get off there *** and fix this problem. How does everyone else feel that lives in the apartment building. You all need to make up a petition and sigh=n it and bring it to the leasing office stating what is happening. Start documenting everything (the phone calls you have made the time and the date. Start taking pictures as well of the cracks in the apartment. Take pictures of the spiders too.

Sounds to me like your leasing office is trying to take the cheap way out of this. In this economy today people are doing anything to get $. Go talk to an attorney.

I would also in the mean time move out. Keep receipts of everything. give them to the lawyer. You will be reimbursed for everything. Get moving on this it may take some time.

Answer 7

Send a certified letter to the landlord and tell them either to fix the problem or your leaving.  but first contact the health department.  This is not good for your baby.  Get Out.

Answer 8

I don't know where you live but look on line or in the phone book for the local health Department - Run, DO NOT WALK to the agency and file a formal complaint as well as ask for any assistance you can get from them and any agency they send you to. The landlord can be given a deadline to fully rectify the situation or they can come out and condemn the building...

Kill one of the spiders and take it with you in a jar or baggy

Also check with  Family services about forcing the landlord to put you up in a hotel until the health issue is resolved

Good Luck

Answer 9

wow, ok, look over your lease and look for anything that states "...unconditional living-standards..." in it (or something along those lines). and bring that to the leasing office, highlighted, and be aggressive.  tell them you'll not only sue them for past rent that was paid when you were there, but for future rents until the problem ends.  

  you may want to call a real estate lawyer and have them call the place.  it will scare them into actually fixing the problem, or providing a suitable solution.  the lawyer may charge you for a meeting and the call, but that should do the trick.  good luck.