Long story short: I am pregnant, my neighbor smokes cigarettes, I've complained for a month with no action from the front and I can only move out to protect mine and my baby's health if I pay 2 months rent plus the lease break fee.
We have lived here since early December 2021. Since mid January, I have been emailing and calling the office about my neighbor who smokes cigarettes in his apartment which makes the hallway smell really bad and we have to breathe in the second hand smoke whenever we come and go and whatever smoke is seeping into our apartment.
After a couple weeks of emails, the front office posted "community reminders" on the front door of the buildings. This reminder (in small print) had a list of things not allowed which included no smoking. My neighbor continued to smoke and I continued to email and call the office.
Fast forward to a month after my first email, I finally got pregnant so I called the front office again to say my neighbor is still smoking and that I'm even more concerned about the smoking now that I am pregnant. Zach, at the front office, responded with "well we put signs" and that he'll have to head over to my building to see if he smells anything and that he'll have to request an inspection with the tenant. So after a month of emails and calls, this whole time they never thought to come to my building to investigate? The following day I called to follow up and Zach said he walked to the building to see if he could smell cigarette smoke and he said he didn't. I asked him if he was going to do an inspection on the tenant's apartment and he said "well no, I like to see first if I could smell something." I asked him why he didn't do an inspection like he said he was going to do and he just kept saying "well I went over there". I told him my neighbor sprays the hallway now with air freshener since I've complained but it doesn't change the fact that there's cigarette smoke I am breathing in. Again, no care in the world for Zach.
That same night I come home from a trip and the hallway smelled like cigarettes. I emailed again and Zach said that when he came again, there was a faint smell of cigarettes so now...now after a month...they will do inspections.
When I told Zach that we couldn't keep breathing in the cigarette smoke and that we would have to move, his answer to me was that I need to pay 2 months rent plus the lease break fee.
So let me get this straight -- they are holding us hostage by saying we can only move if we pay them the early lease termination fee and 2 months rent even though they created and contributed to an unhealthy living environment for myself, my husband, my dogs, and now my baby. So we either pay them a few thousand dollars so we don't have to breathe the second hand smoke or we continue living here and continue to breathe the second hand smoke and and have it negatively affect our health. read more
