Joanne Patterson    |    Johnson City    ,    Tennessee 37659    Landlord Complaint 23-2859

I entered into 3 month lease with landlord Joanne Patterson with the agreement of a non-refundable $650 deposit because landlord informed me that she payed someone $300 to clean the apartment. Ms. Patterson was given the $650 deposit the the first month's rent of $650 prior to me moving in. Shortly after moving in, I noticed that the apartment had not been cleaned and there was a great deal of drug paraphanelia in the apartment. I began to noticed bites on my legs and abdomen within a short amount of time. I at first suspected chiggers or fleas, anything but bedbugs. I contacted the apartment manager who left ant and termite spray on the porch in response. As the bites increased, I researched them and the pattern they were in on my body. Everything pointed to bedbugs. My fiance had also been bitten several times after staying with me. At this time, I was sure it was bed bugs. I again contacted the apartment manager to inform her that there were bedbugs in the apartment. She had a vey short, unconcerned response and said that there were no bedbugs there before so if we wanted to get an exterminator ourselves we could. My reasarch tells me that this could cost in excess of $1200. After speaking with her we began to clean the bed. When we flipped the boxsprings over, we found an actual infestation of bedbugs. We took pictures of the infestation. Even after cleaning excessively and putting mattress protectors on, the bugs were still found crawling on the bed. I have attempted to contact the landlord and her apartment manager numerous times about the issue and they will not respond to my calls or texts. I have had to move out of the apartment due to the lack of response from the landlord concerning this issue. I began to have allergic reactions to the bites and no matter how much we cleaned, the bites continued. This is a furnished apartment and the bites began immediately after moving in. According to the landlord tenate act, it is the landlord's responsibility the make the property habitable. Bedbugs are parasites and therefore this furnihsed apartment is definately not habitable. I would like my deposit back because not only did I have to clean the entire apartment myself, I have pictures to prove the severe reaction I had to the bedbugs over the month that I was there. I would also like the remaining 2 months my lease terminated since the landlord did not do her part in making this property habitable.