CLEVELAND — New problems are piling up at one Cleveland apartment complex, including a lack of trash pickup and a recently shut-off water line.
Earlier this year, News 5 highlighted how tenants at an apartment complex on the corner of South Woodland and Hampton Road struggled for basic utilities and found themselves moving into units that looked far different than how they were advertised on Facebook marketplace.
RELATED: Cleveland tenants, BBB issue warning about online apartment shopping
News 5 revisited that complex after hearing about continuous issues from tenants, pleading for help to hold the out-of-state property owner accountable, who is currently going through foreclosure proceedings.
"Can’t cook, can’t wash dishes, flies start to come in and I’m spending so much money that if I had to go somewhere I couldn't go somewhere cause I'm trying to survive," tenant Angela Fox said.
Fox explained she is able to live in her apartment right now since she and other tenants called the utility companies and ordered the accounts be switched to their name despite paying for rent that included all utilities.
She told News 5 she prepaid her rent for a year, and now worries she will be forced to move and will be out the money she put in.
"I don’t understand how this is legal and how it can be done," Fox said.
Activists and city leaders are working to track down the New Mexico-based property owner going through foreclosure proceedings.
"The landlords are MIA," Former Cleveland City Council President and Morelands Group neighborhood organization leader Jay Westbrook told News 5.
Earlier this year, Cleveland overhauled its building and housing codes, including requiring out of town landlords to pick a local agent that can be held responsible.
RELATED: Cleveland building code overhaul targets blighted homes, absentee landlords
However, that hasn’t stopped the problems here.
Cleveland Councilwoman Deborah Gray told News 5 inspectors are at this property often documenting it all, and she’s working to relocate the residents here in the long term.
"This building is unsafe and unhealthy and even though [the city and residents are] trying their best to get the property owner and property manager to take care of the building, at this time it's not a safe building to live in," Gray said.
In a statement to News 5, a spokesperson for Cleveland said they have filed a 54-count criminal complaint against the New Mexico-based ownership group for failing to comply with a collection of violations. The complaint, consisting of first-degree misdemeanors, could carry a sentence of up to a year and a half in prison and a total of up to $270,000 in fines.
"The property owner is an out-of-state and out-of-touch LLC who clearly has no intention of making repairs," a spokesperson said. "The jig is up now as they’ll have to answer to their neglect in court. The city will continue to do our part to ensure accountability and even more charges could be forthcoming should their noncompliance continue."
In addition, we've learned that the city intends to hire a plumber to attempt to restore water service in the near future.
For Larry Wilkins, who has lived at this complex for 30 years, it doesn’t matter.
"I got to get out of here, I have to," he said.
While Fox hopes to see the building return to a better state.
"Don’t break up the community and make us leave," Fox pleaded. "Make it whole. Make it what we want, make it what we paid for."
