{"id":710872,"date":"2026-04-07T11:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/710872\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T11:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:10:10","slug":"jacksonville-mom-disputes-2k-lease-charge-after-roach-infested-unit-fails-inspection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/710872\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville mom disputes $2K lease charge after roach-infested unit fails inspection"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 A Jacksonville single mother says she was hit with a $2,000 debt collection notice after leaving an apartment she describes as overrun with roaches \u2014 even though she says property management told her she owed nothing for breaking her lease.<\/p>\n

Baylee Adair lived at Spinnaker Reach Apartments on San Pablo Road with her two young sons. She says the roach problem in her unit became so severe that it was impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were just bugs everywhere \u2014 my kids would be eating, and there would be roaches crawling on their food,\u201d Adair said.<\/p>\n

Her son summed it up simply.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bug house!\u201d he said. \u201cBecause there were so many bugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Failed inspection, broken lease<\/b><\/p>\n

Adair says conditions worsened over time. She described waking up in the middle of the night to find bugs on the walls above her family as they slept.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d wake up in the middle of the night, and there would be bugs crawling \u2014 coming down the wall. I\u2019d look up and see them crawling down toward us while we were sleeping,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Adair says the unit ultimately failed a housing authority inspection \u2014 twice \u2014 and that property management gave her permission to leave.<\/p>\n

Adair provided News4JAX with documentation to support her claims, including a lease stating pest control would be paid for by the apartment, and paperwork from the housing authority \u2014 filled out by the property management company \u2014 confirming she did not owe money upon breaking her lease.<\/p>\n

Debt collection notice arrives<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite that documentation, Adair says, she received an unexpected notice months later.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn August or September of 2025, I received a notification from the debt collection company saying that I owed them the lease fees,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Adair now has an outstanding balance of approximately $2,000. News4JAX contacted a local real estate attorney to explore her legal options.<\/p>\n

Zach Roth, a real estate attorney with Ansbacher Law, says the documentation Adair has could work in her favor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a document that\u2019s going to provide proof that if you move out, you don\u2019t owe anything, that is almost certainly going to be covered by the doctrines of waiver \u2014 meaning that the landlord has knowingly waived the right to enforce that,\u201c Roth said. \u201dThey can\u2019t now subsequently take a position inconsistent with that position.”<\/p>\n

Current residents describe similar conditions<\/b><\/p>\n

News4JAX visited the Spinnaker Reach Apartments, where property management declined to comment on camera, saying a media representative would follow up. That response has not yet been received.<\/p>\n

While on the property, News4JAX was invited into the unit of current resident Michelle Martinez. The conditions she described mirrored what Adair had experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI literally came in here to get my laundry, to put my robe on, and I had four cockroaches crawling around all over me \u2014 they get in through the hole in the wall,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

Adair says the experience speaks to a larger issue affecting low-income renters.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because someone is on low income or struggling doesn\u2019t mean they are less entitled to living in a clean space,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Adair says she will continue to dispute the charges. News4JAX will continue reaching out to Spinnaker Reach property management for comment.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville single mother says she was hit with a $2,000 debt collection notice…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":710873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,718,3188,723,210,7310,12013,69103,295986,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-710872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-morning-show","15":"tag-renters-rights","16":"tag-spinnaker-reach-apartments","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}