Something stinks...

[malarky]

The building maintenance people were back yesterday and tried flushing the drains with water. At first it seemed to work, but the smell came back again this morning. I'm dying here!!

I've contacted the owner and left a message about the problem. No response yet.

I really want to move out. Can anyone tell me what my options are in getting out of this lease???

[timklip]

do you have a washing machine in the kitchen? if so, check the drain hose from the machine into the drain pipe...most drain pipes will have a trap in them designed to hold enough drained water to seal sewer gas from re-entering the room...if your washer drain hose is too far down into the trap, it may siphon water back out of the trap after the machine stops draining, emptying the trap and allowing gas back into the room through the drain pipe...pull the washer drain hose out slithly so that it doesn't touch the bottom of the trap

of course this is all hypothetical and simply my personal experience...

[MovingIn07]

Re your repeated comments about the lease, reading other posts on here about breaking leases it seems to be really hard even in "reasonable" situations - which is probably why most people are giving you advice re the smell .....

I had a bit of a pong in my bathroom and drano fixed it (different scenario, we live on a boat) but I don't know where to buy more of it as we have now used up the supply we brought with us!

[albahk]

If you are hell-bent on getting out of this lease, then you should mail a letter outlining the problem to the landlord and explain that it makes the apartment inhabitable for you. Have your agent follow-up this letter up for you if your LL does not speak english.

The LL has a responsibility to ensure the apartment is in a habitable condition and if there are any structural defects that arise (that are not due to the negligence or fault of the tenant) the landlord must rectify them within a reasonable amount of time. This reasonable amount of time would commence from the date the LL receives your letter.

Have a read of this document (it is ~10Mb):
http://www.eaa.org.hk/consumers/doc/tenancy.pdf
and refer to page 11.

You should make sure that the problem is in fact a "structural" or inherent problem with the unit, rather than a case of a dead fish under your sink (which would then make it your responsibility, not the LL's).

Sometimes LL's need a kick in the pants to get moving on these things, plus the LL will have more influence on the Building Management to get it fixed if it is in fact a common-area problem.

Read your Tenancy Agreement carefully to find a clause relating to the LL's duty to maintain the structural portion of the unit.

This is not legal advice, but I know someone that followed this path in the past to get the landlord to act. Hope it helps.