In this apartment situation, what can I do?

Question

My fiance and I moved into an apartment complex 11 days ago. We knew the building was old, but when we showed up, it seemed to be in good condition: beautiful location in a nice area of town and quiet and friendly.

For the 1st week, the only issue we had were kids. Yes, the downstairs neighbors have an excess of kids and they are NEVER inside. The kids come outside at 7:30am and don't go in until 11pm everyday. They're no louder than normal kids, but the constant noise is draining, especially for my fiance who works early.

We found another tenant digging through the trash 2 days later, which I informed the management about.

3 days after signing, the cockroaches started showing up. Two different species, they ranged from tiny to the size of my thumb. Management promised to spray within a week of moving in- they didn't. I'm usually home, so I think I would have seen them. The roaches are certainly not because of me: I am freakishly clean to avoid such problems.
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Then about a week later the air conditioner stopped working, not that it worked well in the first place.

The hallway started smelling like Indian food soon after we moved in, then like rancid Indian food, and now it just REEKS. The stairwells are dirty and have muddy footprints all over.

What can I do about any of these problems? More importantly, if I can’t get them fixed, how do I break my lease? I like my apartment, but my noisy, dirty neighbors are making it hell. The management even told me, “We have a lot of foreigners and sometimes they don’t live in the best conditions, so it can cause problems like yours.” They’re aware of the situation and use stereotypes to make excuses. Help me!

I live in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Answer 1

You can only break your lease legally if the landlord breaches your lease agreement on their part. While cockroach infestation is certainly not appetizing, it's also common place. If the management takes appropriate steps to control the infestation, they are doing what is expected of them.

Do remember that cockroaches have been on this planet far longer than have humans, and they generally don't ask permission to take up residence in your apartment.

Relative to the noise of the kids, etc. others have the right to normal living enjoyment and the reasonable noise which goes along with that. If your lease specifies that one of your included amenities is air conditioning, you can certainly ask to have that repaired. If nothing is stated in the lease, you are on your own, sad to say, since A/C does not fall into the class of "basic needed utilities" required to make an apartment habitable. The landlord, while stereotyping here, is correct in the living habits of others. He cannot control the cleanliness standards of others, as long as those standards are within 'normal', and normal covers a LOT.

Unless the landlord is understanding and soft of heart, you're legally stuck with this lease until its expiry.

Answer 2

Agreeing with the guy above so what I would do to make it more bearable is maybe get a small fountain or room fan and put along the wall area where the noise is coming from to drown out some of it out.
You might also put stick-ups in the hallway and maybe ask the landlord to install a ceiling fan or open a window and set your own fan out in the hallway to air it out occassionally.
It sounds like a bad situation but I guess you have to make the best of it for now.
The Orkin man can get rid of roaches. It may be an expense that you have to incur to rid yourself of them.