Q: My son has lived with his wife for the past seven years at an apartment complex in Richfield. They live on the ground floor, with windows above ground, but walls below ground, on the courtyard side.
They have been flooded multiple times over the years, both from the outside as snow melts or due to heavy rain (water comes through the walls or up from the floor), from sewer backups in the tub and toilet or water through the kitchen sink, which was supposedly due to tenants above them causing the problem.
Last fall, they finally forced management to replace the carpeting and pad and it was all covered with mold. That project took them days to do as management first replaced the carpet over the moldy pad, then later replaced the pad and put the new carpet that they had put on the moldy pad back down over the new pad.
Obviously, all the problems have been a major inconvenience as they've had to move furniture, sanitize and change their day-to-day living habits many times. It's a one-bedroom apartment so there is not a lot of room to adjust and relocate furniture and find sleeping space. They've also been sick more often than young people should be, but no link to the environmental conditions was ever pursued. The carpet and pad from when they moved in were probably full of mold for years from all the water.
They were never relocated during any of these events, being forced to live around the problems and workers. They both work, but live paycheck to paycheck and have little time to spend fighting for their rights.
Recently, their bedroom flooded again with approximately 1.5 inches of water. Maintenance came in and is still running industrial fans to try and dry it out. Fortunately, my son was home after the fans were initially plugged in and found the outlet smoking because both fans had been plugged into the same outlet.
In addition, the time to decide whether or not to renew their lease came in February, which has a 90-day notice period, and they had to decide or possibly lose their housing in a few months. They signed for another year as management offered to keep their rent the same.
However, in my opinion, they should not have been forced to sign anything until the water problem is resolved. The maintenance supervisor believes the water is coming up through a crack in the floor's foundation as the walls do not appear to be wet. He said fixing the problem would require removing the concrete foundation's flooring and pouring new concrete, obviously making the apartment uninhabitable. I'm also concerned about the wiring in that outlet.
