So you've moved! What happens to tenants who have finally moved into their new apartment, are looking around, and are realizing that it's kind of gross? 

A couple additional things to consider:

• If you're considering Just Doing It yourself, click through for the best ways to do it, along with the pitfalls.
• If you are a tenant trying to get your landlord to do the repairs, look at our Repairs page for detailed steps and law citations.
• It's so important to put requests like these into writing. If you need some guidance in writing a letter, we wrote something just for you.
• If you can't get into the apartment because of repair issues, or because the previous tenant hasn't left yet, make sure to keep track of your expenses! The landlord (or previous tenant) can be held responsible for those charges, but you need to be able to prove what they were. If it comes to a lawsuit, small claims court tips are here.
• If the situation is so severe that it's not safe to live in, you might have a defense for leaving without further liability to pay rent. More information here.
• You can always choose to break your lease. See our page on Ending Your Lease, and make sure to keep track of your landlord's efforts to re-rent the property.