Do I have a legitimate case for a lawsuit?

Question

I have been living in my apartment building for over a year. The apartment constantly has a fumigation/cigarette smell. First I asked the management company to fix the problem. They tried for several months and the problem still remained. I then asked them if I could be released from my lease obligations because they were not able to stop the smell. They said no, they cannot release me from my lease so I just continued to live in the apartment. A few weeks ago I found out I have some problems with my throat and lungs after went to the doctors. I am a non-smoker. It has not yet been linked to living in my apartment, but I'm almost 100% sure I'm sick due to living in the apartment. Do I have a legitimate case? Can I take the management company to court?

Answer 1

An odor by itself is probably not enough to release you from your lease, unless it is due to the reckless and negligent actions of the landlord. In the case of fumigation, pest control operations are a normal part of building maintenance and are required by health codes and state law if there was a vermin problem.

As far as the cigarette smoke, you would have to prove that your health problems are a result of the cigarette smoke. Landlords are, of course, required to provide an environment free of unreasonable health risks. However, there is no evidence linking residual cigarette odor to any health problems (studies on "second hand" smoke involve subjects who have a history of being in confined places filled with actual cigarette smoke).

Furthermore your landlord will argue: When you signed the lease, you must have smelled the cigarette odor. Why did you sign the lease? Even if you did not smell it when you signed your lease, you must have known that in a "smoking allowed" building, your next door neighbors may be smokers. You were aware of this information when you signed the lease.

Your landlord will raise these issues, and unless you can answer them to the satisfaction of a judge, you have no chance of being released from your lease.

Unfortunately, that is the way things are.

P.S. Under normal circumstances, IF a strange and bizarre odor which a reasonable person could not anticipate appeared AFTER you moved in, you could argue that the odor represented a material change in the state of the property, from that bargained for prior to the signing of the lease, which therefore ought to allow you to renegotiate the terms of the contract.

However, in this case, both odors that you describe are ones which are not unusual in a rental setting, and barring direct evidence of a health hazard, are not grounds for terminating a lease.

Answer 2

How long was your lease? You say you have lived in the apartment for MORE than a year. Given a typical ONE year lease, that means you SIGNED A NEW lease at some point. Why did you do that if you were having problems with a smoke smell? If there you only SMELLED smoke and did not actually SEE any, I doubt there was enough to case health issues. Even if I an wrong, the landlord will argue I'm not.

Answer 3

You are going to have to prove that the health issues are due to living in an unhealthy environment provided by the apartment. Until then, it is only speculation, and therefore is no cause for a lawsuit.