Coloradan advocating for future tenants after escaping mold, bug-infested apartment in Broomfield
Surrounded by moving boxes a mother and her son were settling into their new apartment. Ali Neiderer moved in last week after moving out early from the Ten 30 and 49 Apartments in Broomfield. She says a leak there turned into months of struggles with mold and bugs.
"When I got home from vacation in November, there were about three inches of water in my kitchen just standing, and that's how I found the mold," Neiderer said. "I dreaded going home every night."
Now, even though she's moved out, she wants to make sure her multiple work orders could at least help the next to move in.
"It's been a relief not having to go home and smell the smell of mold and worry about my son's health or my health," Neiderer said. "What if they get super sick, and I didn't do anything about it?"
Neiderer showed us emails with management spanning months. We reached out to the apartment complex to ask about Neiderer complaints, along with similar complaints in online reviews.
Management thanked CBS News Colorado us in a statement for bringing the issue to their attention. "We take the comfort and safety of our residents seriously and work to promptly resolve any concerns about the maintenance of our property," the management for Ten 30 and 49 Apartments shared.
Denver attorney Steven Flaxman from Flaxman Law Group specializes in housing law, where he says he sees tenant issues similar to Neiderer's.
"In the last year, two, it unfortunately seems to be getting worse," Flaxman said, "A lot of complaints lately from both mom-and-pop landlords, ranging to massive national property management companies."
Flaxman also explained that, even though state law requires landlords to fix issues like mold, bug infestations in a certain amount of time, residents also have to give the chance to fix them.
"They want tenants to reach out to the landlord and give them an opportunity to make these needed repairs to keep both the tenants safe, but also, of course, their, you know, their property safe," Flaxman said.
Living there or not, Neiderer wants to make sure these issues get fixed.
"I couldn't allow somebody else to live in the situation that I lived because it was a nightmare," Neiderer said.
