76-78 Phoebe, LLC    |    John Corticelli, Susan Corticelli    |    Woonsocket    ,    Rhode Island 02895    Landlord Complaint 24-1591

Upon viewing and accepting the unit located at 513 Diamond Hill Rd, Basement Unit, Woonsocket, RI 02895 in July 2019, I was never informed that the property has a history of and current rodent infestation issues. After moving and settling into the apartment in August 2019, my fiancé and I started noticing rodent droppings around the apartment here and there. Nothing too alarming at first, but in November and December, as the colder months approached us, it started getting worse. My fiancé and I both started noticing rodent droppings in our stove where we prepared our food, in our cupboards, under the baseboard heaters, under the sink, fridge and dishwasher in the kitchen, in our bedroom closet, under our dressers, etc. By the first week of December 2019, we began witnessing rats/mice running across our floors, nesting in our belongings, hearing them running around within the walls. We notified the landlord of the issue right away and sent them pictures of us catching a few on glue traps. The landlords response was “if you need more traps, let me know.” I did let them know and although they promised to deliver some, they never showed up and dropped some off. I had to buy them myself and withhold costs from rent. By the end of January 2020, I caught MORE than 50 mice. February 2020, I was so fed up and disgusted with how inhabitable and unsanitary the apartment was and how the landlord refused to do anything to rectify the issue, I withhold rent and decided to seek legal advise. The landlord finally decided to call pest control but all they did was come in and lay down more traps. Nothing more than what we were already doing. I took it upon myself to hire Terminex and they told me the house needed an exclusion, to seal the entry point outside the house to prevent them from coming in. I tell the landlord and they don’t want to hear it. Instead of fixing the problem permanently, my fiancé and I were served with eviction papers. We went to court expecting to present the case in front of the judge but the landlords lawyer offered us everything we wanted during mediation as a stipulation, which was to wave past due rent and to give us our security deposit back if we left without damaging anything, so we can afford to move. We moved on March 15 2020, and it is now April 23 2020. We have tried contacting the landlord and their lawyer and they haven’t returned our calls, Nor have we received our security deposit although we left our forwarding address.