My boyfriend and I have been renting an apartment for almost a year (the lease ends Feb. 1). Since July, there has been a huge leak in our b...

Question

My boyfriend and I have been renting an apartment for almost a year (the lease ends Feb. 1). Since July, there has been a huge leak in our bathroom ceiling coming from the apartment above us. Despite many attempts to contact the property management as well as the on-site supervisor, the leak has not been fixed. They've only come to repair the ceiling, which continues to collapse because of the on-going water damage. They've repaired the ceiling at least 3 times without fixing the leak. We have plenty of photos and videos to show how massive this leak is. We contacted the NJ Buildings Department and they demanded the property management fix it by Nov. 15, which is a request that's gone ignored. Can we take the property management to small claims court? Is this worth pursuing even though the lease ends in a month? Any other actions we should take to remedy the situation? It's so dangerous for us to even use the bathroom!

Answer

I would need to get more information from you before answering this question. If you call my office at 609-927-9227 I would be pleased to meet with you in person to discuss your options with you.