Man Living In Rat Infested Beal Properties Apartment Refunded, Released From Lease

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man who said his Lakeview apartment was infested with rats and his landlord was not fixing the problem has been released from his lease, he tells CBS 2.

Jason Pakewitz said he spotted rats in his home four times since mid-April and claimed to be stuck in his lease with Beal Properties.

He took cell phone video showing a huge rat scurrying across the floor after crawling out of his dishwasher.

Paskewitz now says the Beal Properties has agreed to refund his rent and let him out of his lease at 600 W. Oakdale Av.

Early this year, CBS 2 discovered Beal Properties reached a $100,000 dollar settlement with a former tenant who was bitten by a rat at another one of its Lakeview apartment buildings.

The Metropolitan Tenants Organization said last year it got 70 complaints about Beal Properties.

"About half of those were repair calls particularly related to rats," Phillip Devin of the MTO said.

As for the rat problem at Paskewitz's apartment, the property company has laid traps, plugged holes and brought in exterminators, but the rats keep coming.