FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — A group of retirees living at the Cottages Apartment complex in Frankfort have grown increasingly frustrated with management, who they feel has ignored their concerns after repeated maintenance issues.
Specifically, in one apartment building, a water heater broke on August 23, leaving water to spill into 4 apartments.
“The smell was horrible. It was like sewage,” said Judy Barnes, who said water had flooded her apartment before due to a mechanical issue.
“We had two inches of water here,” said her husband Sunny.
Property maintenance crews came to start cleaning up, but left before getting all of the water out, leaving Sunny to clean the about an inch of water that remained, he said.
They showed us where mold is now growing where their kitchen floor meets the carpet.
At Donna Inman’s apartment, the apartment complex only gave them a dehumidifier to clean up, said her son Chris Barnes (no relation to Judy and Sunny).
“I compare it to trying to suck a bowling ball through a straw. It can only do so much,” Chris Barnes said.
He works as a contractor, often completing water damage restoration projects. He explained that if the moisture isn't removed before 48 hours, mold begins to grow.
He showed us an example in another neighbor’s apartment, and used a moisture measuring device to show a cabinet was still saturated.
The apartment complex was not willing to move his mom into another apartment, Chris Barnes said. She’s allergic to mold, making the situation more serious. He moved her out of the apartment and handed over the keys Tuesday morning.
He thinks the apartment complex should move everyone impacted elsewhere while a proper remediation takes place.
Judy worries they won’t do the work to finish the job. She said after a previous incident, maintenance committed six months ago to getting her a new hardwood floor, but it has yet to be installed.
"The people in California that owns the apartments could care less about any of us,” Judy said. ”I don't think the maintenance people take it seriously that we're all getting tired of it, we need something done around here and we need it done quickly, I'm not the only one that’s upset about things around here, there's a bunch of us if they'd be truthful about it."
We reached out to the property’s owner, California-based Income Property Investments, for comment and have yet to hear back.
