Residents claim mold issue not being addressed at Germantown apartment building
Residents claim mold is growing inside their apartment, and they want out of their lease.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Some residents of a Germantown apartment say they are fed up after reporting mold.
Briana Raasio said she had lived in her apartment at LC Germantown for about two years when she started noticing something.
She said, “The vents started being moldy and what really got my attention was my lamps in my room and my bible were covered in mold, and I was like ‘What in the world?’”
From there she says her health started to decline.
“I had anything from what you would probably consider COVID symptoms, so like walking Pneumonia, a cough that just persisted for months on end,” she said. “More recently, brain fog is the biggest thing and just skin issues, rashes other internal issues, anxiety, depression which I had never had before.”
That’s when she put one and two together and realized mold could be the reason for her health issues. That’s when she started letting the leasing office know about the problem. She claimed, “They saw and acted completely unphased.”
According to emails sent to WSMV4 by Raasio, LC Germantown told her in order for the problem to be addressed she needed to fill out a work order request.
The email says Raasio refused to submit one, but Rassio says she did not file one because she felt a lack of a sense of urgency in addressing the mold.
“I’m going to try to do all the proper channels got an attorney so that they see it’s serious and professionally written, get an inspector to come in and take a look,” Raasio said.
The inspection took six samples from the fridge top, the HVAC area and from other things in the apartment and found heavy levels of various types of mold.
Raasio said, “Some of the test results that I’ve gotten back from the mold samples, they’re high in penicillin and I’m super, super allergic to penicillin. So I was just breathing in something that was killing me this whole time, it just explains so much.”
Now, Raasio said she wants out.
“I‘ve tried to break my lease. I’ve tried to renegotiate with them. I tried to work with them,” she said. “I was like ’Listen, this is costing me thousands in ER visits and different things like my rent. I haven’t been able to live here for months, it’s uninhabitable.”
She feels she can’t get back some of what she’s lost, “I lost two jobs and relationships honestly because I’ve had to stay with different people.”
In those emails from LC Germantown, they told Raasio she could transfer units for a $500 fee and she could keep her current lease without having to sign a new one, which is not up until August 31, 2025.
We reached out directly to LC Germantown and have not heard back yet.
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