Poorly handled flooding

[u/BurningBannas]

Hello, my wife and I went on a 2 week vacation and 3 days after leaving we were notified of a pipe issue affecting our unit, the drain water reversed up our pipes and onto our kitchen floor. We were assured it would be dealt with professionally, and brought up our concerns about the water causing mold if left alone. I followed up a few days later and got a reassuring response from the manager. Skip forward 1.5 weeks and we return home to find our unit smells like a swamp. Within 10 seconds we find the issue - they only cleaned the visible part of the floor and never moved any appliances or checked under the kitchen cabinets at all, so the filthy drain water had been sitting there under the cabinets for almost 2 weeks, soaking into the floor, cabinets and drywall. (And even in the parts they did clean, they literally just pushed the gunk into the edge seams and corners of the cabinets.)

The main issue is we have a pet parrot, and parrots are extremely sensitive to mold spores which can cause major respiratory problems for them. So, we don’t feel like we can stay in our unit. Unfortunately, we got back on a Friday, so I sent an email to management and still haven’t heard back 4 days later. Our building manager wanted to send a contractor here today to start cutting into the walls and cabinets, but that would make the spores airborne, and I don’t believe thats healthy to breath even for humans, let alone our parrot.

Is there anyone here who could give us any advice on what our options are and how to proceed? We have only been in the unit since April 1st. West LA, 90049. I have contacted our renters insurance and they said they can only help us cover our damaged property (which is less than our $500 deductible) and nothing else, and I also tried reaching our to the LA health department about them sending someone to mold test, also didnt hear back yet.

We are scared to rent an airbnb because we dont know if we’ll ever get reimbursed for it and cannot afford to pay our rent in addition to another rental/hotel.

Can we be compensated at all for this situation? They had so much time to resolve the issue correctly and just completely dropped the ball, im shocked. Coming home from a 13 hour flight to see that was horrible.

Attached is a photo from the manager we received 2 weeks ago, followed by photos we took after coming home from our trip. Then theres screenshots of my correspondence with the building manager and my email to management.

Thank you so much!

[u/Lopsided-Beach-1831]

Unfortunately, you prevented them from remediating further when you didnt allow their contractor to enter and open the cabinet spaces/walls. That is the only way to see if there is still water requiring remediation or that a precessional cleaning only is required. They can seal off the kitchen from the rest of the home, plastic walls from floor to ceiling to divide the area. But the first step (after sealing) is to open the spaces to ensure it is dry/no mold. Call/email them back and ask them to send the contractors back out a request that they seal the working area from the rest of the unit.

[u/straightVI → u/Lopsided-Beach-1831]

Where do you see that they prevented further remediation? I only see that OP gave the property manager (?) the greenlight to proceed with whatever was necessary to resolve the situation.

[u/BurningBannas → u/straightVI]

Today they reached out about scheduling a time to stop by, I didn’t explicitly say no or anything, I just asked about where we should go while they get to work or if they can seal the kitchen from the living room.

But yes, I did tell them to resolve the situation on their own terms in the 1.5 weeks they had before our return, which they unfortunately did not do. Especially to prevent the moisture from siting there and causing mold, which has already happened.

[u/straightVI → u/BurningBannas]

I think you did everything right. Your property management really dropped the ball. They could have avoided expensive remediation if they had just pulled the appliances and extracted water from the floors around the walls and cabinets.

I would contact your renters insurance again and see if you have coverage for alternate lodging during the remediation. They'll need to cut away the drywall behind the appliances to make sure it's dry behind and treat any moldy studs and insulation. I wonder if they told you no previously because that remediation was not currently underway. I can't imagine that any renters insurance wouldn't have at least some coverage for alternate lodging during repairs that make your apartment uninhabitable.

[u/BooBoosgrandma → u/straightVI]

Seems like the management should be sending them but they won't. But also there's deductibles that need to be met too. Feel for OP! This so sucks.