My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Tennessee.
On the night of July 31st my mother and i heard a noise in our bathroom. we found there was water dripping slowly from the ceiling. We informed the site manager of the apartments we live in and she said she would come check it out. She never did. The next Monday while paying the rent she asked if it was still leaking i said yes and she said she would check it out. She didn't. That Thursday i again told her that it was leaking and she said she would check it out. the next day i told her again and she finally came to our apartment to look at it and brought a plumber to fix it. the leak was finally fixed after two weeks and three holes being put in our bathroom ceiling. We can hear and smell everything from our upstairs neighbors. It smells strongly of mold and today i was informed by the upstairs neighbor that if they remove this plastic plate that was put in their bedroom to access the shower pipes that they can see directly into our shower. I have contacted the property manger of the complex and she seemed clueless as to the fact that we are having an issue like this. The apartments are under USDA Rural development regulations so i also contacted the person that covers my area and she said she would contact the management company to have them fix this. That was 3 weeks ago. On Sept. 5 i was confronted, i say confronted because that's what she did, by the site manager about filling out a maintenance request form to have the holes in my ceiling fixed. She said that i had already been told by her boss that there was a crew coming to fix all the things that the maintenance man couldn't repair. I wont get into he said she said but i will state i spoke to her boss one time and she informed me that there was a part that needed to be ordered and that it would be here but that was at the beginning of the 3rd week of this ordeal.
I have filled out maintenance forms and they're addressed either by her saying she will check it out or she ignores them or like i stated before she confronts me about it. I understand that there are specific procedures that need to be followed but there is no clear answer on what they are.
I understand that Tn. is a deduct and hire state and also a withhold rent state. I have only seen it stated "after a reasonable length of time" may you do one of these things. What is a reasonable length of time and should i contact an attorney about this? I understand that there are specific procedures that need to be followed but there is no clear answer on what they are.
There is a personal issue with her and myself on her part now i assume because she was mad that i spoke to her boss about the problem. She told other tenants "hell yes i'm mad it's not my fault the part takes a week to get here". Could she be stalling in repairing the ceiling because of this?
I wouldn't be so worried that it will never be repaired but one of my other neighbors in the same building had the exact same problem in March of this year and they repaired the leak but not the water damage. She has mold growing under the flooring that is curling away from the toilet because it wasn't installed properly. Her requests have been all but ignored by management.
Any advice would be extremely appreciated because I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

