NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Dozens of residents at a Nicholasville apartment complex say they are spending the holidays trying to find new homes after getting notice that they need to vacate their apartments by the end of January.
The apartments at 500 Beauford Place in Jessamine County recently came under new ownership and management, according to letters given to the tenants on Dec. 6. Management was being taken over by Brookside Properties out of Nashville, according to the letter.
Just over a week later, residents got another letter. It informed them that their lease was not being renewed and that they needed to be out of their apartments by Jan. 31, 2022. The letter went on to say that residents would be required to continue to pay rent for the remainder of their time there.
Affordable housing is in high demand, and there is a waitlist of up to one and a half years for a one-bedroom apartment in Jessamine County and up to 9 months for a two-bedroom, according to the Nicholasville Housing Authority.
Residents of the apartments on Beauford Place, also known as the Tree Tops Apartments, are asking why they couldn’t have been given more time to find new housing.
“I wish they would have gave us a couple of months [of notice] in advance,” said resident Jossie Barnett.
LEX 18 was unable to reach the management company for comment.
“It's legal, but it's not right,” resident Dakota Rose said. “There is nowhere for the people to go and they're aware of that, they've been told.”
Barnett has a 10-year-old daughter and said that many of the families at the apartment complex have children.
“This is affecting everyone's Christmas because, you know, we can't afford to move, buy our kids Christmas and pay January's rent here,” Barnett said. “It's highly impossible.”
Barnett said she was told that the new owners and operators of the apartments are getting residents to vacate so they can renovate the buildings.
“I just hope that these people, somebody, somebody on there realizes what they're doing is wrong,” Rose said. “And that there's literally no places in town for this many people to go.”
