Forum Archive: Posts by: motif

This past weekend’s storm caused water to somehow infiltrate the building’s exterior and find its way to vulnerabilities in my ceiling of two rooms.

One room leaked for almost 14 hours, losing plaster, sagging is still smelly and wet. The damage is extensive.

The second room, the water never broke the surface of the ceiling or high walls, but visible wet stains built up and are still visible. This room also smells now and the apartment has an obvious increase in moisture.

My landlord said that nothing on the interior would be done until the exterior issue was solved and everything dried correctly from exterior to interior. Earlier that day the super said the contractors wouldn’t be able to do anything until the weather changes for the better (seasonally).

I told my landlord about worries of mildew forming and of the smell. I work from home and this is cause for worry and discomfort.

All he replied was that I should look into a room deodorizer.

I feel like as a renter I am lacking some knowledge about some rights I have here. Some people have told me not to pay rent, others to try and get rent reduced.

Does anybody have insight into this? The landlord is traditionally stingy and lazy. I feel like I could be looking at months here of dirty, broken and smelly ceilings with mildew eventually forming.

Thanks in advance.