Landlord and neighbor causing serious issues for my quality of life

HU-798204049

5 months ago

I've rented my home for 4 years. It's an old funeral home that was divided into separate living spaces. We have all always lived more as roommates than separate tenants. Making sure to care for others wellbeing and having communal dinners. Things like that.
The house sold mid summer. The man rented the original house part that's connected to mine moved out. I got a new neighbor.
I have chronic fatigue/fybromyalgia and migraines among other issues. I asked the woman to not use scented products because the air flows right into my home from hers and the laundry room is a wind tunnel between the houses.
There is a forced air system that was originally used to heat the house but after dividing the space they both got gas heaters installed. Due to an issue between the new landlord and old tenant he took the gas heater when he moved our. He had bought it and the new landlord refused to pay him for it.
The thermostat and regulator for the forced air are in her unit which is 4 times the size of mine. I have 5 vents in my tiny home and no windows that open.
My bedroom was built into the furnace room so it's right next to my bed. The noise it makes keeps me awake all night.
I've had a combined 2 to 4 hours of sleep a night for 3+ months.
I told the new landlord and neighbor about the heating issue in June expecting it to be remedied. Bur the landlord and she refused to install a gas heater and have forced me to live with the repercussions of the forced air system.
She burns incense uses very strong smelling laundry products and other scented items. All this comes wafting in thru the laundry room, along the wall that divides the units, gets pushed in by the air vents. It completely invades my home, I've been suffering the health affects for months.
The landlord and renter know the adverse affect this is all having on me.
My neighbor had turned hostile calls me "an entitled white women" threatens me and harrases me with texts saying I better not bang on her walls when I haven't done anything like that.
It's 8am and she is doing laundry I have to work today and the smells from her laundry are making me very sick before work.
I've called and written every institution I can think of to no avail.
I live in Washington state.
Any precedent or advice for ending this situation?
I can't move, I have no money to do so. My current home allowed my animals but I'm not able to find a new place that will accept them.
I planned on living here a long time so made life choices that suited this living situation.

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Green Lady Green Arts
3 months ago
As a fellow renter with sensitivities to fragrance, this resonates. And I know the rental market across the country is impossible to navigate right now. Some thoughts I had you might explore:
- Could you convert another room into your bedroom so you don't have to sleep next to the furnace? Unconventional, I know, but sleep is essential.
- Otherwise (or possibly in addition) maybe look into some adaptations other renters have put in place to put acoustic foam panels up, and some combination of white noise machine/ noise cancelling headphones...
- See if the utility companies or some other agency that does free home weatherization can come out to assess your unit and seal up some of those connected services-- if they can evaluate the whole building, you or they could provide the results to your landlord, and it should show him how much he can save by doing those updates, and there is usually funding for all or part as well.
- If you are on any kind of rental assistance (or if he has gotten any federal or state assistance for upgrades etc), he may be obligated to improve the building retrofits, esp if you can't control your own heat or if the ventilation system is putting particulates into your apartment and negatively affecting air quality - this might be something you have to dig into, but might be worth it. There are some relatively affordable CO2 monitors available that would be a place to start to collect data, otherwise there may be some agency that can do air testing for you.
- Look into getting an air purifier if you don't already have one. Good to have anyway, esp since you don't have windows that open - (this also sounds like a building code violation to me, so that may be a point of leverage for you with the landlord, check with your local building inspector/health department...)
Your local legal aid service or a nearby law school housing law clinic may be able to give you more specific advice too. Wishing you the very best luck.
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Landlord and neighbor causing serious issues for my quality of life

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Green Lady Green Arts

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