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stepha2nie · Jun 28, 2007, 10:20 PM

Hello everyone; I hope someone can help me.

I recently moved to North Charleston, South Carolina. I signed a 13 month lease with an apartment complex. First two months are free. It's only the second week of living here and I can't even get into my apartment. I live on the second floor and the people on the third floor clogged their drains and flooded their apartment, my apartment and the apartment under mine. There was standing water in my apartment. The apartment complex dried all the water up with dehumidifiers and repainted the walls. They say it's fine to live there starting tomorrow. I don't want to live there however. Mold grows quickly here. (The apartment manager told me herself that you must run the air vent when you shower to prevent mold from growing.) I don't want to live in an apartment that mold is probably growing under the carpet and the ceiling is slightly sagging. I don't want the bathtub on the third floor to fall through the floor one morning while I'm showering. I don't want to stay somewhere I feel unsafe and where I can't breathe due to mold and my allergies. They said that they would switch apartments for me as soon as possible which looks like it will be in a little over a month. How can I get them to release me from my lease so I can get an apartment I feel safe in? I've rented for over half my life and never had this problem before. HELP!!

michealb · Jun 28, 2007, 11:33 PM

Your not going to get out of your lease without penalty, switch in a month when another one becomes available. The upstairs bath tub isn't going to fall through the floor that only happens in movies. Mold doesn't live without moisture so as long as they clean up the water and there is not a new supply of moisture the mold won't grow. The reason mold grows in the shower is because it gets moisture everyday. It sounds like your apartment complex did everything as they should have and is going beyond the call of duty by letting you switch apartments.

michealb · Jul 1, 2007, 05:54 PM

What part of you are not going to get out of the lease without penalty don't you understand? You asked a question I told you what is going to happen. You are not going to break your lease without a penalty that's why you have a lease. Don't blame me cause you don't like contract law.

Fr_Chuck · Jul 1, 2007, 06:04 PM

You will need to hire environmental engineers to come in and do a mold survey, if they prove there is mold, most likely you will have a defense to their law suit when you move out.

The landlord is not going to allow you to move in general, If you sue them for 1000's in damage of personal property from the damage, perhpaps they will let you out as a settlement

But most likely what it is going to end up, is you moving and trying to defend yourself from the law suit.

But in general spills, accidents and plumbing issues happen to rental units, and it sounds like they cleaned it up properly. And I see no way to just break the lease on this.

stepha2nie · Jul 2, 2007, 05:47 PM

Thank you everyone for your help. My apartment manager decided to release us from the lease today. I had the city apartment building inspector come take a look at the damage and it looks like the apartment people tried to do a quick fix on some things that need a lot more work. Since they can't house us for a month, they had to let us out of the lease.

unicornk77 · Jun 10, 2010, 07:22 PM

If two people are on the lease and one moves out but the lease doesn't get rewritten does the one leaving get reported to the credit burea in South Carolina?

excon · Jun 11, 2010, 07:03 AM

Hello u:

It's not a good idea to piggyback your question onto somebody els's. Maybe it'll get moved..

If the roommate who DIDN'T leave doesn't pay rent, the landlord can collect any way he can.

excon

unicornk77 · Jun 16, 2010, 10:13 AM

The question wasn't piggbacked as you say, it was a legitimate question.

excon · Jun 16, 2010, 10:32 AM

Hello again, u:

That isn't what I meant. You can, and SHOULD have started your OWN thread. At the top of the thread it asks if you want a NEW discussion. You didn't push that button. That's cool. Most people don't. It just makes your question available to MORE experts than piggybacking your question onto someone else's OLD thread.

In any case, I answered your question. What more do you need?

excon