u/spoopichalupi

My allergies have been absolutely insane since my boyfriend and I moved into this apartment. When we moved in, the place was SO dirty and dusty. Not only that, but it was really humid with the AC on. I tried to talk to the complex multiple times about the AC not cooling the unit down and every single time maintenance came over, they gaslit us saying that it feels fine. We discovered that when we set the AC at 69 or below, it will actually cool down. Anything above 69 would be humid. Not only that but our electric bill was like $300.
While we were dealing with that, I also had my suspicion of mold and it became even stronger since it was so humid inside. We addressed that we were concerned with mold a few times, but of course they tried to shut it down right away. We did the mold “at home” testing kits. We showed what they caught and they told us that it basically was useless. They sent their “mold professional” to attempt to relieve us as well. He came in with a little flashlight and looked around and immediately told me there were no signs of mold. I was trying to trust them and I tried to let it go, but I still felt like shit. We didn’t have money for our own professional testing at the time so we were pretty much stuck.
We finally went to the leasing office to ask about breaking the lease. We didn’t want to damage our credit knowing we couldn’t afford to pay monthly AND pay for the new apartment we’d be staying at but we were ready to risk it. We sat with one of the ladies at the office and told her everything. She apologized and offered for maintenance to take another look at the AC and said they’d do anything to have us stay. They ended up replacing the part AC.. something about coils and it being old. AC was finally cool. I knew there was a problem and I can’t believe they tried to tell us otherwise.
We ended up getting a small blessing of money and decided to use it on a professional inspection company to test. They found mold in multiple areas of the unit that were POROUS. One of the areas was where the air filter goes bc it kept dripping water. (When we dealt with the humidity problem, every time we changed the filter, it would be soaked and dripped everywhere so that made sense.) We gave the report to the office and let them know we wanted to break the lease and we wanted reimbursement for the testing that we just paid for. They responded the next day by sending us a response from their “mold professionals” saying our report is inconclusive because we need to test the indoor and outdoor air quality to prove anything and that mold being on those surfaces wouldn’t affect our air quality.
We haven’t responded yet because we honestly don’t know what to say. I’m annoyed. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO THIRD OPINION OUR SECOND OPINION. YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE. We don’t have money and they know that. I want out. On top of everything, there’s also German roaches here. It’s literal hell. My boyfriend is working so hard at his job and we’re both about to start school in the fall. My cat also is disabled and we have to figure out a way to pay for her surgery soon. If anyone knows where I can turn for at least free legal advice I’d really appreciate it.

My allergies have been absolutely insane since my boyfriend and I moved into this apartment. When we moved in, the place was SO dirty and dusty. Not only that, but it was really humid with the AC on. I tried to talk to the complex multiple times about the AC not cooling the unit down and every single time maintenance came over, they gaslit us saying that it feels fine. We discovered that when we set the AC at 69 or below, it will actually cool down. Anything above 69 would be humid. Not only that but our electric bill was like $300. While we were deal with that, I also had my suspicion of mold and it became even stronger since it was so humid inside. We addressed that we were concerned with mold a few times, but of course they tried to shut it down right away. We did the mold “at home” testing kits. We showed what they caught and they told us that it basically was useless. They sent their “mold professional” to attempt to relieve us as well. He came in with a little flashlight and looked around and immediately told me there were no signs of mold. I was trying to trust them and I tried to let it go, but I still felt like shit. We didn’t have money for our own professional testing at the time so we were pretty much stuck. We finally went to the leasing office to ask about breaking the lease. We didn’t want to damage our credit knowing we couldn’t afford to pay monthly and pay for the new apartment we’d be staying at but we were really to risk it. We sat with one of the ladies at the office and told her everything. She apologized and offered for maintenance to take another look at the AC and said they’d do anything to have us stay. The ended up replacing the AC.. something about coils and it being old. AC was finally cool. I knew there was a problem and I can’t believe they tried to tell us otherwise. We ended up getting a small blessing of money and decided to use it on a professional inspection company to test. They found mold in multiple areas of the unit that were POROUS. One of the areas was where the air filter goes bc it kept dripping water. Every time we changed the filter, it would be soaked and dripped everywhere so that made sense. We gave the report to the office and let them know we wanted to break the lease and we wanted reimbursement for the testing that we just paid for. They responded the next day by sending us a response from their mold professionals saying our report is inconclusive because we need to test the indoor and outdoor air quality to prove anything and that mold being on those surfaces wouldn’t affect our air quality. We haven’t responded yet because we honestly don’t know what to say. I’m annoyed. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO THIRD OPINION OUR SECOND OPINION. YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE. We don’t have money and they know that. I want out. On top of everything, there’s also German roaches here. It’s literal hell. My boyfriend is working so hard at his job and we’re both about to start school in the fall. My cat also is disabled and we have to figure out a way to pay for her surgery soon. If anyone knows where I can turn for at least free legal advice I’d really appreciate it.