Description

I sent the following letter to the landlord on April 1, 2021

From: Isabelle Vacher
To: John Bronga
CC: Kenneth Jason Williams
Regarding: Rental property at 4161 39th Street South

Mr. Bronga,
We moved into the property at 4161 39th Street South, St. Petersburg, FL on December 9, 2019. You informed us that the roof leaked and it would be fixed in the month of December. Since that time, the following has transpired:
• Days after move in, we discovered a rat carcass, rat droppings and open holes behind the stove in the kitchen and pool room wall, mold on the refrigerator barrier, and mold and standing water in the dishwasher. We have dated pictures documenting all of this, including the old water damage in the bathroom adjacent to the pool room and kitchen area
• The roof was not fixed and we lived with a leaking roof until I had to call the city of St. Petersburg for inspection in March 2020. You were issued citations (CASE # 20-3274) for multiple problems with the home, which are on public record, including buckets of water to catch the leaking roof, extensive water damage from leaking roof, issues with the pool surfacing that were considered dangerous, rusted gate in back yard that did not allow securing the back yard leading to the pool and other noted citations of public record.
• You finally repaired the roof in March 2020, three months after move in, and only after the city was involved. There was no mold or air quality inspection done at that time. You also repaired the pool based on the inspection findings, in April 2020. The gate was not repaired until March 2021, almost a year and a half into our two-year lease
• We have lived through the following repairs to this home since move in:
o Total roof replacement
o Pool resurfacing
o Replacement of stove, due to health hazard with rat droppings
o Replacement of garbage disposal due to continual leaking of water into cabinet below that already showed significant water damage
o Two broken water heaters, one of which was hidden behind a wall and recently resulted in significant flooding in the bedroom hallway and bathroom that was not remediated for water damage
In March 2021, a technician refused to do routine AC cleaning due to significant concerns about observed mold on the air handler and air return. In our household, you are aware that we have one person who is disabled and immunocompromised, one person with asthma and one person with severe, medically tested and documented allergies to mold.

Multiple requests to have mold and air quality testing were refused, so I hired an independent, certified mold inspection company to conduct almost $600 worth of testing. I invited you to be here when the inspection occurred.
When you arrived, your behavior was threatening and angry. You told the mold inspectors, in front of me, that I was stirring up issues and that I was crazy in my texts to you about the necessity of a mold inspection before you had a chance to clean up the identified AC issues. You followed the inspectors around angrily, enough so that they both commented to me that you seem to have “issues with women,” which I also have experienced. It was an extremely emotionally upsetting day, because of your unnecessary behavior.
The mold testing from both the independent experts and the expert from Citizens insurance uncovered extensive problems with mold that necessitate comprehensive mold remediation including tearing out walls and cabinets in the kitchen, as well as the wall and baseboard area from the hot water heater flooding. The Citizens inspector report was not made available to me. However, he shared all his findings in real time revealing a situation even worse than detailed in the mold report suggesting long-time neglect that far predated our move in (his words).
On March 29, 2021, you tried to suggest that the water damage was caused by the pool technician and then my husband. I then spoke with your handyman, John, who shared that he had tried to repair the damage in the pool room, bathroom, kitchen area from flooding before we moved in. He stated that he did the best he could and that no mold remediation or walls were replaced at that time. Holes were patched, “to make John feel more comfortable and pipes were replaced.” He also noted that “a lot of the water damage came from your failure to fix the roof in a timely matter predating our move in” and that he told you this many times.

It is now May 10, 2021, over one month later, and a remediation company finally began ripping out kitchen cabinets today. Mold was found across the kitchen and up half the wall due to negligence to address apparent kitchen flooding from the pool pump room predating our move in. This is the same thing we saw in back of the stove over a year ago, when we moved it out to clean and the rat carcass was found and reported. We also took pictures of this and sent it to the owner at that time. Landlord is negligent and failing to maintain a habitable environment and quiet enjoyment of the property.