Residents of The Junction apartment complex have been voicing complaints of poor living conditions impacting their quality of life and even their health.

With issues including mold, residents such as Jawad Abugabal, a computer science sophomore and his roommates are planning to take legal action.

“We’re all involved because at the same time we’re all stuck in the same boat. So all of us are going to focus on that [lawsuit] if we’re going to move forward with this problem,” Abugabal said.

The Junction is located on West Ave. in San Marcos. A 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom furnished apartment costs $565 a month per person.

The complaints vary from burst pipes, unclean conditions and mold growing in their apartment, all of which residents say management has ignored.

Savannah Mullen, who has lived at The Junction for around two years, said conditions have never been great, but they have gotten worse in the past several months.

“Maintenance has always been an issue,” Mullen said. “They always either take a month, or it just doesn’t happen.”

Some of Mullen’s complaints include broken equipment in the complex’s gym, broken pipes, the pool being dirty, air conditioning randomly going out, utilities being shut down and black mold growth.

“A water pipe burst in [the gym] and they shut it down,” Mullen said. “That also happened in our apartment. There’s still a hole in our wall from where it happened and that happened two years ago.”

Mullen decided to look at reviews and photos of The Junction to ensure it was not just her and her roommates having issues.

“As I’m looking through the new reviews I see a million pictures of black mold,” Mullen said. “I checked my vents and they were black.”

Mullen credits the mold growing in her apartment to worsening her asthma and sending her to the emergency room multiple times.

“I’m coughing up blood, I felt really sick, like I never have before and my asthma is bad,” Mullen said.

After her second trip to the emergency room, Mullen temporarily decided to stay at a friends apartment fearing more prolonged exposure with the mold would continue worsening her condition.

“I’ve lost about 20 pounds in two weeks because I haven’t been able to keep any food down,” Mullen said. “I was able to eat for the first time last night and I think it’s because I’m at a different apartment.”

Abugabal has not become sick due to the mold, but he is worried about the possibility and how it would impact his finances and schooling.

“I’m an international student here… I’m on the university’s insurance and that’s not going to cover anything, so I would have to pay for everything if I get sick because of this [mold],” Abugabal said.

Abugabal said management at The Junction has constantly changed their story when discussing the mold growth.

“At first [management] told us it was black insulation, then they told us ‘no, we didn’t say that’,” Abugabal said “Even though we are still saying it is mold, they are saying we can agree to disagree.”

Melody Zul, an accounting junior and resident at The Junction, said she also had issues with management not taking maintenance complaints seriously.

“You put in your work order and management takes like a week to look at it,” Zul said. “If you don’t go [talk to management] more than once, they’re not going to look at it.”

Mullen, Abugabal and their two other roommates have spoken with numerous mold removal professionals, and San Marcos Code Compliance to pressure The Junction into removing the mold to no avail.

Students experiencing similar situations in their apartment complexes can also consult with the Attorney for Students which offer resources such as attorneys who specialize in rental law.

Management at The Junction declined to comment.

The University Star received copies of maintenance requests by residents.