Recent Feedback
My daughter is living in an apartment in Englewood, Co. Over the past 4-5 weeks she has been dealing with living in termoil. She woke up those weeks ago with bites on her that she could not explain that left massive welts. She, herself, did massive cleaning of her apartment to make sure that whatever it was was removed. Despite the thorough cleaning multiple times she kept getting bites. She threw out a mattress cover that seemed to show signs of what a bed bug might leave. She has not traveled or had visitors to bring them to her apt. Finally she actually found one. She talked with neighbors and found that the one above had had them. She then went to the landlord. They scheduled a time for a company to spray her apartment. She got a list of how they wanted her apartment to look and what she was to do. More or less - the apartment was going to look like move in day. Everything of material nature to be put in black plastic bags. They said if you can bake those in the sun for a good amount of time. The apartment complex manager came by while we were helping her dismantle everything, to tell her she couldn't hang those bags over the balcony. (This after the other gal in the office said she could because of what was happening) She had a time out of town already scheduled, so we took her cat and they went in and sprayed. She was gone for a week and they came back a week after the first spray to check. They found evidence of them and sprayed again. She was at that point told she could put things back and live there just fine. She in the mean time had been living basically out of her car and not sleeping much. I can't blame her. She was sleeping mostly in the main room and not the bedroom. She finally had no choice but to set up the mattress in the bedroom. She has again been being bite. They will come again tomorrow to spray. They will not compensate her in any way for her life being turned upside down since they had to worked out compensation when she moved in. (delayed her move in by 5 weeks from the promised date) She wants to know if she has legal rights to break the lease and look for a new place to live? She said she just can't live there anymore with getting constantly bit or worried that she will be. I still have the majority of her clothes and she still uses her truck as her closet. She can't continue to live amongst bags and containers sealed with her belongings.
Optional Information: Country relating to Question: United States State (if USA): Colorado Already Tried: Talking with landlord to get this fixed. They are not real sympathetic to her cry for help with all of this.
Your question was:"She wants to know if she has legal rights to break the lease and look for a new place to live?"Yes, she would have a right since the breached the contract and the "warranty of habitability" as they failed to have the apartment ready on the agreed upon date.If they try and pursue her for the lease she can sue/countersue for Breach of Contract, breach of warranty, and "constructive eviction" since they were unable to get the apartment into a livable condition in a reasonable period of time.If you would like any additional information or have more questions please don’t hesitate to ask but please do so my clicking on the Reply to Expert tab.We work for Positive Ratings, please click on one of the top three ratings or one of the Smile Faces, as this would be appreciated. We have recently implemented a new rating and feedback system. Please be aware that you are rating my courtesy and service as a professional, and not necessarily whether you like the information that you are receiving. Please bear in mind I can’t control what the law is and whether it helps you, I can only tell you what it says, and I assume you want truthful information.PLEASE DO NOT use the rating system to ask for more information or in an attempt to tell the website that you didn’t like the substance of the answer as it gives a NEGATIVE rating to me personally if your rating is one of the lower two.I believe in giving information that is to the point, but please remember that I can only base our answers on the information you provide and sometimes a misunderstanding as to what you are looking for or already know occurs so feel free to ask additional questions or for clarifications. Be very careful about looking at other internet sites that just post generic information without any inquiry into your facts because often those answers are dated, wrong, or wrong as applied to your facts. Please be aware that my answer is not legal advice, it is merely information. You should always contact a local attorney for legal advice.Several customers have asked how they direct a question to me in particular. If you specifically want me to provide information for you just put “FOR JD 1992” in the subject line and I will pick up the next time I am online.
Experience: Began practicing law in 1992