Apartment Damage After Neighbors Death

I’m 6 months pregnant and a sophomore in college. I rent a master bedroom in an on campus apartment in Arizona, which I share with two roommates. Due to pregnancy complications, I’ve been staying at my moms house. Even though I haven’t been living in the apartment i’ve continued paying rent due to trouble breaking my lease/finding someone to sublet. Most of my belongings like furniture, clothing, and toiletries are still there.

On January 28th my apartment management reached out about a strong odor on my floor, saying it was worst near my room and the unit directly next to mine. They asked for permission to enter my room, which I gave but I never heard back about what the smell was or where it was coming from. If it had been coming from my room my roommates definitely would’ve notified me so I honestly didn’t think much of it. The next day the apartment texted me again saying they thought the smell was coming from the hallway and asked if I “knew of anyone with pets”. I told them no, because I didn’t. A few days later, on the night of February 2nd, I got a call from the apartment saying there had been a “water intrusion” on my floor. The woman on the phone was super vague, just said there had been a “floor level” flood and asked if I had somewhere else to stay while they brought in professionals to dry the vinyl flooring. I asked if this was related to the smell, she said yes, but didn’t give any more details. I did let her know that I no longer lived there and haven’t since September but that I do still pay my rent every month. She never brought up anything about my room or its condition, and that was the end of it.

I didn’t think it was anything urgent just some water on the floor, based on how she described it. But then I got a message from my roommate saying my room was actually quite badly affected. At that point it was really late, my boyfriend was at work and my mom was asleep, so I figured I’d deal with it the next day.

Later that night, a group chat I’m in with some of our neighbors was blowing up with messages about a rumor that the man in the unit next to mine had committed suicide and left the water running. One person shared videos of police in the hallway and a stretcher. That same person even claimed to have seen a “body shaped bag”. At first, I thought it was just speculation, but the more I read the more I started to believe it.

The next morning I called the front office to ask if I could access my room to retrieve some of my stuff. Right away I could tell something was off by the way the guy on the phone sounded. I asked him about the “rumor” and he confirmed that my next door tenant passed away. He said he couldn’t share any more details, but seconds later he said that my neighbor had “died in the shower and left the water running”. After that my boyfriend and my mom urgently went to collect my belongings.

What they walked into was far worse than we expected. My entire room and everything inside it reeked of a dead body. A majority of my belongings were completely soaked in water and destroyed. Unfortunately they had to throw most of my stuff away (they did take pictures and videos of everything so I do have evidence to back all this up).

My mom was able to speak with 3 men who live directly across from me and they told us everything they knew: 1. Maintenance had gone into the deceased mans unit to do an inspection 3 weeks ago and it was a total disaster with garbage everywhere. Maintenance then took pictures of the common area and sent him a notice saying he needed to clean up or he’d be evicted. At this point, I’m not sure if he was still alive or if they simply hadn’t found his body yet, but he did not respond to any of their attempts to contact him. 2. The decaying smell has been in the hallway for weeks. Water also had been leaking down into the parking garage below our floor but no one had bothered to check the room above the leak (which was his room). 3. On the night of February 2nd maintenance entered his unit after complaints of water seeping out of his front door and into the hallway. It was the maintenance worker who discovered his body.

This is a difficult and sensitive situation. I feel for the man who passed away and in no way am I trying to be insensitive. I truly believe the apartment management mishandled and downplayed the severity of what happened. Had the woman I spoke to on February 2nd informed me of the true extent of the situation, I would have handled this a lot differently. If I had known that all my belongings were sitting in decomposing body water, I would have rushed over immediately to tried to salvage what I could. The few things we managed to save are now sitting in our driveway airing out because they still smell rancid. On top of that, no one bothered to investigate the water leaking into the parking garage directly below the unit, and the foul smell that had been lingering in the hallway for two weeks.

A lot of this doesn’t add up to me. Why did they check my room for the smell almost a week ago but not his until two days ago? As I mentioned earlier, they texted me on the 28th, saying the smell was strongest near both my room and his. The only reason they entered his apartment two days ago was because of the water leaking from his front door. So why didn’t they check sooner? Especially knowing they had just threatened him with eviction because of the state in which his apartment was in. And why didn’t the woman I spoke to on the phone mention how horrible my room smelt or how badly damaged it was? She also conveniently left out the fact that my neighbor had died, which was the source of both the smell and the flooding. I’m not exactly sure how long he had been dead before they found him, but for the odor to get that bad, it must’ve been quite a while.

What are my rights? Is there anything I can do legally? My room is destroyed, and majority of my belongings are ruined. Even the items I managed to save still smell like a dead body. If I were still living there I wouldn’t be able to move back in until they replaced the flooring and the drywall. Plus I already paid this month’s rent before any of this happened.

All advice/help is appreciated thank you.