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Tenant wants out of lease after multiple flooding mishaps

6 years 5 months 4 days ago Friday, October 13 2017 Oct 13, 2017 October 13, 2017 5:14 PM October 13, 2017 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - There's a lot to look over when you sign a lease on an apartment but one woman says she's got to go no matter what she signed. She claims the landlord has been irresponsible when it comes to maintaining a safe living environment.

When you walk in Tammy Bordelon's apartment, it appears normal. As you walk around she tells a story that might have you squirming.

"This entire room was wet," she said.

A carpet drying fan was recently turned off and the carpet's been shampooed and dried. Even though that's happened, Bordelon says since she's moved into The Villas at Stone Creek apartment six months ago, it's flooded three times. She says sewage saturated the floors of her apartment.

"After the first two weeks when I moved in and the sewage came in and they didn't do anything about it, I knew I was going to have issues from here on out," she said.

Bordelon says she's lucky it's happened when she's been home. One time it happened soon after she flushed the toilet and water came from the floor.

For six months, Bordelon says she's paid $900 rent to live in her apartment. She's not convinced her leaking toilet has been fixed and is afraid to come home and find a house full of sewage. Some of her furniture has started to warp from the water damage.

It's not the only issue she has. Quite often, when she turns on the faucet the water looks murky and brown.

"And they told us nothing was wrong with the water," she said. "It's pretty yucky brown."

Bordelon says she won't drink it nor will she bathe in it. She claims she's contacted the main office nearly 60 times about the mess and hasn't heard back. In addition, Bordelon says her neighbors have dealt with bats and termites.

All of this is why Bordelon says she wants out of her lease so she can look for a new apartment.

"They told me if I terminate my lease, I would not get my deposit back and they would take me to court," she said.

Louisiana tenant-landlord law says the landlord must maintain the property by making all necessary repairs and if a serious problem is ignored, then a tenant may terminate the lease. Tenants are strongly advised to keep record of all maintenance problems, repairs, and failures to repair.

Terminating the lease requires substantial proof of the landlord's failure to perform his/her obligations. Doing so without sufficient cause will result in serious financial and legal consequences.

Bordelon, who no longer walks in her apartment barefoot says she has all the proof she needs.  

Multiple attempts to contact The Villas at Stone Creek were made and phone calls were not returned.

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