DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. – 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 — even though she says property management told her she owed nothing for breaking her lease.
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.
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“There were just bugs everywhere — my kids would be eating, and there would be roaches crawling on their food,” Adair said.
Her son summed it up simply.
“The bug house!” he said. “Because there were so many bugs.”
Failed inspection, broken lease
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.
“We’d wake up in the middle of the night, and there would be bugs crawling — coming down the wall. I’d look up and see them crawling down toward us while we were sleeping,” she said.
Adair says the unit ultimately failed a housing authority inspection — twice — and that property management gave her permission to leave.
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 — filled out by the property management company — confirming she did not owe money upon breaking her lease.
Debt collection notice arrives
Despite that documentation, Adair says, she received an unexpected notice months later.
“In August or September of 2025, I received a notification from the debt collection company saying that I owed them the lease fees,” she said.
Adair now has an outstanding balance of approximately $2,000. News4JAX contacted a local real estate attorney to explore her legal options.
Zach Roth, a real estate attorney with Ansbacher Law, says the documentation Adair has could work in her favor.
“If you have a document that’s going to provide proof that if you move out, you don’t owe anything, that is almost certainly going to be covered by the doctrines of waiver — meaning that the landlord has knowingly waived the right to enforce that,“ Roth said. ”They can’t now subsequently take a position inconsistent with that position."
Current residents describe similar conditions
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.
While on the property, News4JAX was invited into the unit of current resident Michelle Martinez. The conditions she described mirrored what Adair had experienced.
“I literally came in here to get my laundry, to put my robe on, and I had four cockroaches crawling around all over me — they get in through the hole in the wall,” Martinez said.
Adair says the experience speaks to a larger issue affecting low-income renters.
“Just because someone is on low income or struggling doesn’t mean they are less entitled to living in a clean space,” she said.
Adair says she will continue to dispute the charges. News4JAX will continue reaching out to Spinnaker Reach property management for comment.