I had also gone into work on Friday and spoke to several colleagues who had experienced storm damage. All of them said their insurance companies were extremely helpful and said they could do whatever they needed to do to make things right.

Given this feedback, we couldn't understand why our property agent was being so dismissive of our concerns. The property manager didn't even bother to drive down 2 mins to inspect the unit to assess the damage themselves. By Friday, the carpets smelt completely foul.

I called the property manager to reinforce the fact that as long as the carpets were not removed, the unit was unliveable. Flies were everywhere and mould was growing in the darkest parts of the cupboards. No one should have to live there in that condition. And that our neighbour had ripped up his carpets to discover the water had gone into the concrete, so ours would definitely be the same. Leaving the water to sit there would only cause further damage.

The property manager got huffy with me and said that was all she could do. And she was not managing our neighbour's property, so he was not her concern. I stated again that this was unacceptable, since we had just paid rent for 2 weeks and the unit was unliveable. We couldn't possibly live there in that condition and if something couldn't be done sooner, we may have to terminate our lease. She huffed at me and said: "Fine! Terminate your lease." and put the phone down on me.

Our neighbour was in constant contact with us and asked what the status of our carpets were. We informed him that there was no change and no plans to strip the carpets. He was furious as the water from our unit would simply seep into the concrete and into his apartment, so even if he did lay down new carpet, it would more than likely rot again from water damage. He asked for the property manager's phone number and called her to state again that if the carpets were not removed, it would not only affect the unit, but his and the entire apartment structure as well.

By this time, we had had enough and decided we would terminate our lease. Even if she managed to have the carpets replaced in 7 days, the weather bureau had projected another 2 big storms and we didn't want to risk having to sort ourselves out after another flood.

As we made preparations to move out, the property manager called the SO. She was obviously trying to be civil in the beginning of the conversation, but when she mentioned that our neighbour had called her and she did not appreciate his ugly words, nor that she should have to deal with his call, because she was doing the right thing according to the insurance people that the carpets should be dried, not removed.

She then said we could move out if we wanted to.

The SO: "Thanks, we'll keep that in mind."
Property manager: "Given night_child80's concerns about health and everything, will you be terminating your lease?"
The SO: "We'll speak to you on Monday."
Property manager: "So the unit is liveable?"
The SO: "No, it's not."
Property manager: "So will you be terminating your lease?"
The SO: "Yes, we'll be terminating."
Property manager: "I'll make a note of it and you can bring in the keys today or tomorrow."

WTF?! It's Friday. We only made the decision to move an hour ago. Who can move all their possessions from their home in less than 24 hours?! The cow...

At this time, we were on the way to the airport to pick up bankevair and iriael. lorenai was kind enough to come help us pack, alongside the mum-in-law. With some coordination effort, we worked till almost midnight moving the large stuff to the in-laws.