RICHMOND, Va. -- Residents who have been living without hot water for months at an apartment complex may have to move out by Wednesday after Richmond officials said they planned to condemn three of the buildings on the property.
Shannon Darby, one of the concerned tenants at the Ashton Square Apartments, said she is at the end of her rope.
"I'm passed frustrated. I'm pissed,” Darby said. "They were always out here trying to fix something, but nothing ever got fixed."
Darby said she has had hot water in her unit since June of 2015.
Management at the apartment complex blamed the issue on a broken boiler, but after eight months of living with no hot water and constantly reporting the problem, she said nothing has been done.
Ashton Square Apartments
"How would you even feel ? I don't have anywhere to go," she said. "I gave them my rent money."
On Friday evening Darby received a notice saying Richmond's Building Inspection Office was going to condemn her building -- as well as three others in the complex -- on Wednesday, Feb. 17 over the hot water situation.
Renee Mace, another Ashton Square resident, said when she saw the letter, she panicked because she is unemployed. She said she's been without hot water since September.
"It's hard right now,” Mace explained
Her neighbor Lester Baccus, has been without hot water even longer.
Management told residents water would be shut off Tuesday for continuous plumbing repairs, to keep the city from condemning the complex.
But Baccus said a City Inspector instructed the crews to stop working because they didn't have the proper permit.
When a WTVR CBS 6 News crew stopped by KRS Holdings in Henrico apartment complex, which manages Ashton Square, among multiple properties in Richmond and Tidewater, we got no answers as to why tenants had been without hot water for so long.
They declined to talk on camera.
“We are in daily contact with our residents," said Operations Manager Jennifer Whitlock. "We continue to work diligently to resolve the issues."
The complex sits in the Fifth District, represented by Council Member Parker Agelasto.
"I think just posting a notice put a lot of fear in people," Agelasto said. "And that probably wasn't the most appropriate step to take. And clearly the city is trying to be an advocate for the tenants who've been complaining about this for sometime.”
"I just think that it's an owner who bought a piece of property and is just not taking care of it,” 4th District Richmond City Councilwoman Kathy Graziano said.
Graziano said people living next to the apartment complex first told her about the hot water problem.
"I think where we are right now, legally, we're doing everything we can,” Graziano said.
However, it is unclear if that means helping the residents relocate someplace else.
"I just want them to figure out what it is we have to do right now, because keeping us in the dark didn't help,” Mace said.
Agelasto tells CBS 6 that city inspectors will do a final inspection Wednesday at 10 a.m. to confirm if any repairs were made.
Then, KRS Holdings and city inspectors will go before a judge at 1 p.m. The judge will decide if the tenants will be allowed to stay or go.
