OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — We all want to feel safe and secure at home.
But for Fireside Village resident Jason Unruh that security vanished in August after a pipe burst in the apartment above him.
“We are sitting there eating dinner and my girlfriend says she hears water,” said Unruh.
Unruh and his girlfriend found water pouring through their ceiling and light fixtures and bulging the paint on the walls.
“First thing we notice is water pouring out all over our clothes and everything, in the bathroom. Here it was pouring out the two vents. Right here you can see where it started bowing out the door jam you couldn’t shut the door,” said Unruh as he walked us through the damage found in his apartment.
They quickly called maintenance but Fireside didn’t respond to the leak for nearly four hours, Unruh had to shut the water main off himself.
When maintenance finally arrived Unruh says they did a quick inspection of the damage, mostly with a cell phone flashlight and determined there was no mold concern, despite water flowing through the apartment for hours.
Then the health problems began.
“I started coughing. I would get fevers and my body would start aching. I would be like that for days. I couldn’t catch my breath,” said Unruh.
Unruh’s respiratory issues persisted for over a month and sent to the emergency room six different times.
He and his girlfriend suspected it was mold and lab tests would later confirm their suspicions.
“We decided we would start sleeping here in the living room because it happened back there. What we do is we don’t run the heat, because we did mold tests and it's coming out of the HVAC,” said Unruh.
Despite pleading with management and maintenance to do something about the mold damage nothing was done and the damage remains in the apartment.
Unfortunately, Unruh’s situation is not uncommon.
“The thing to keep in mind is under the law in Nebraska there really isn’t a mechanism to force a landlord to fix something,” said Caitlin Cedfeldt with Legal Aid of Nebraska.
While you can’t force a landlord to fix something, Caitlin says you do have some options to get out of your lease if your landlord isn’t holding up their end of the bargain.
“You are giving the landlord a notice in writing that says 'Hey landlord, please fix this in 14 days or in 30 days my lease is terminated.' What that does is it allows someone to get out of a lease for an apartment or home that isn’t up to standards for them,” said Cedfeldt.
The best advice Cedfeldt had for renters is to reach out to an attorney.
Legal Aid of Nebraska can help those who financially qualify and attorneys know the specific procedures that a renter can use to help avoid unnecessary headaches.
Her next best advice, keep a record of everything.
“First of all, you should have communications with your landlord in writing. The other thing that is important is to photograph and document things. If you are getting written notices from your landlord take a picture of it. Things on the cloud live forever but paperwork doesn’t necessarily so that is important,” said Cedfeldt.
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