Frequent leaks/water damage

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Throughout the past 2 years I have lived here, and predominantly in the past year, we have had over 10 ceiling leaks which have resulted in water damage to our walls, carpet, and personal property (particularly a laptop computer and case, furniture, and several pictures).  In many instances, the water that stained our carpets and belongings was brown and had a horrid smell. Although the maintenance staff has patched these leaks, they continue to happen in the same areas. Every time we have had a leak, we have asked them to not only shampoo the carpet, but replace both the saturated carpet and padding, as well as the drywall where the water has saturated the walls, due to the risk of mold formation, and they have refused time and time again. They have only offered to shampoo the carpets and put in fans to dry them, but have done nothing to address our concerns about the saturated padding or wall. In one instance, due to a neighbor’s clogged pipes, brown, greasy water tainted with food particles was left standing in both our kitchen and bedroom for 3 days despite several maintenance requests. Within those 3 days, and for about a week after, our apartment was unlivable due to the unsanitary conditions and stench of the soiled carpet, and my roommate and I were forced to reside elsewhere for that week. Although the carpets were shampooed by request, the carpet continued to smell for several weeks. Since my roommate has a 6 month old child residing in the apartment with us, we are growing more and more concerned about mold and the effects it may have on our health. We have voiced our concerns to the apartment manager who offered us a month’s free rent and assured us that the leaks would no longer be an issue. However, we have since had another leak in the exact same spot, and are worried that this problem may never be resolved. What should our next step be to ensure that this problem is fixed permanently? Also, can we force the complex to test the areas which have had water damage for mold or force them to replace those areas? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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