Jose

City: 
Los Angeles
Residence Type: 
5-9 units
Landlord Type: 
Private Landlord -- No Rent Control

My name is Jose. My girlfriend and I moved into our apartment about 10 months ago. Aside from the old sink faucets, the place seemed to be in very good shape. Newly installed laminate flooring as well as fresh paint throughout. A few weeks after moving in, my girlfriend noticed bugs crawling in from the shower drain. They were termites. They were coming in through the window and the shower drain. I reported it to the manager and he promised to come and fix it the next day. He came and applied some caulking around the drain and window frame. A few weeks later we noticed the termites were back, so we sprayed raid all over and it seemed to hold them off. A month or so later, we noticed that we were both waking up with bloody mucus and incredibly dry mouths and eyes. We began sleeping with the windows open and even bought a humidifier to help out, but it still happened and still happens to this day. I mentioned it to the landlord and he claimed he didn't know what I was talking about and if I thought there was mold to look for it. Around that same time, the sink would clog up. One day we came home and the floor was soaked from the entry way to the kitchen, living room and down our hallway. The manager came and unclogged the drain, but a few days later it flooded so bad while my girlfriend was doing the laundry that it somehow shot remnants of food into our washing machine and detergent water into our sink... nearly blasting its way out of our sinks. It was insane. I decided to report that to the health department of LA and they came and gave a quick look-see to which all they could tell me was that if they couldn't see any mold, then that was that. I showed the mold to the manager and he came and painted it the same day. Then came the ant infestation... My girlfriend hates insects and you have no idea how terrified she was at the waking up with a posse of ants crawling up her leg. Needless to say, I reported this to the manager again and they sprayed some raid and more silicone caulking. The ants came back a few days later and they decided to send an exterminator to spray instead of the old Raid trick. This was about a week ago and BOOM. There are now twice as many ants as there were before and the termites are back as well. I am at my wits end. I already have respiratory problems and I definitely don't like the feeling of my eyeballs being so dry they want to pop out from their sockets. We tried waiting it out, but we pay nearly two thousand a month to live here and its no use. I have to idea what to do. My landlord could care less about my car getting broken into and even less about his building. How can I get out of here. I don't even care about my deposit. I just want to pack up and go.

Help build power for renters' rights: