WINCHESTER, Ky. (LEX 18) — A woman in Winchester is demanding answers after she was given options to leave Saturday morning, this comes after she's been trying to work with the complex to fix issues with her unit for months.
For two years, Jennifer Turner has been a tenant of an apartment complex in downtown Winchester. She says, during those two years she never experienced issues until recently: "I've been here for two whole years and I never had any problem, anything that happened."
"It was about two weeks ago and then this past week, but they just now finished it [bathroom] yesterday and the other units still aren't done," explains Turner.
Turner says her water was off for three days without warning, and had to stay with a friend during that time to use the toilet, shower and cook.
LEX 18 reached out to the landlord of the building, who says an emergency leak occurred in the building on Friday, which led to the water needing to be shut off for three hours while old drain pipes were replaced.
A window in Turner's bedroom was another item on the agenda that she say's she's tried to get fixed because it won't stay open: "And then she said at first that they was gonna have to come in here because they can't fix it. That they was gonna have to come in here and tear the whole windows out. And then she [landlord] messaged my housing advocate and said 'no, we don't have to do that, we'll just put a spring in it.'"
The building's landlord states a part has already been ordered for the window and they are waiting for it to be delivered on August 2, so it can be fixed.
"I came up and they had the toilet all up in here after they sent messages saying 'we're gonna have to tear up your toilet' and then 'we're not going to, we're just gonna put springs in your windows and you're good,'" Turner explains about a recent conversation she had with her landlord about issues with the bathroom and her window.
Turner also describes a closet in her kitchen being torn out and replaced with her fridge instead. She says because of these reasons, she called the Kentucky Housing Authority for an inspection with the hope of bringing attention to these issues. She was forced to cancel three times, but says she did provide video evidence to show why she canceled.
The building's landlord states that they have done everything possible to remedy the issues, and all claims Turner has made are false. They state, Turner is being asked to leave because she canceled her inspections with the housing authority.
The landlord says they told Turner that if she does not pay rent on time (August 1-5), she will receive a seven-day notice to vacate on August 6, 2024. If Turner agrees to pay rent, the landlord will hand Turner a 30-day non-renewal notice on July 31, 2024, which means Turner will have until August 31, 2024, to vacate.
"Like why not just fix it? You know or let me know, you know, in May you know when we were starting if you didn't wanna let me leave," says Turner.
