I recently moved into (and out of) a room in a building that had five units with the owner in one of them. My situation was like a rooming house. I had a large room the size of a studio apartment and a shared bathroom and kitchen with another unit on the same floor.
There was no lease, it was a month-to-month rental. When I first saw the place the owner told me that the people in the other unit were rarely there because they worked out of state and had a residence closer to where they worked. I told him I could not live in a place with pets or smokers bec of allergies. He told me the man smoked but only in his room with an open window and reassured me that I would not even know someone smoked in the building.
I gave a security deposit and month's rent and planned to move in the middle of the month because I had no time off from work to pack. The owner told me the place would be ready by the beginning of the month and I could move in any time I wanted. On the 11th I came by with some boxes to find the owner painting the ceiling and saying the place was not ready. (I had told him I was going to move in on the 12th) I was unhappy that there were paint fumes and hoped they would dissapate by the next day. The following day I moved in and there was still a slight paint odor but I opened a window and put on an air cleaner. The short version is, the place smelled like paint for a whole week, the people who were rarely there were there every day, and the bathroom reeked so badly of cigarettes I got sick and could not use the bathroom. In two days I knew my asthma would be acting up and I was going to have to move. I told the owner this and he said that for the past couple of weeks the guy's smoking had been really bad (after I had initially seen the place and had been reassured that his smoking would pose no problem to me). I stayed there exactly seven days and moved out, paying a mover.
The owner gave me only the security deposit back and tried to take money out of that, but I protested. I think I should be reimbursed for 3 weeks rent because I could only live there a week, and my moving out expenses (I had to pay a mover to move in there and move out). Do you think I have a case? I am thinking of going to small claims court. Would that be the proper venue? I am just so upset because I feel this guy (and his wife) really screwed me and should be giving more of my money back. If they knew the guy was smoking a lot and causing problems with other tenants (which he told me after the fact) I think he should have had the decency to give me a heads up before I moved in.
PS They are now listing it on craigslist as "furnished" and listing the furniture I had to leave there as a perk.