LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Residents at the Fox Run Apartments in Lexington are frustrated and looking for answers after being left without hot water for eight days and counting.
Stephanie Kelly has lived at the apartment complex with her partner and two young children since July 2021. She says she's filed a host of complaints with management since then.
"There's been issue after issue, and we've called multiple times like nothing's been fixed," said Kelly.
Kelly says, they've dealt with a bed bug infestation, roaches and are now trying to get answers about when their hot water will return.
She says they've been boiling pots of cold water to bathe their children.
"It's crazy. Like we do what we can because this... I've had to do this before, but you figured in an apartment complex, they would get to it soon because we're obviously not the only people here with kids," said Kelly.
We talked to an elderly woman who lived alone and did not want to be on camera but tells us, she's struggled to live the past few days.
Another resident who also didn't want to be identified shared a message between himself and the property manager. It read: "We apologize for the inconvenience. We are still working with our vendors to resolve this hot water issue. We are trying to fix the issue as soon as possible."
The man is an army vet and says that response was frustrating because days went by, and he received no update. He works two jobs and hasn't taken a shower in days.
"At the time, I was like okay, cool. But that was like days ago and still got no hot water," he said.
The apartments are owned by R. Communities LLC based out of Colorado. They also own Matador North Apartments in Lexington.
LEX 18 reached out to find out when residents would have hot water. We're still waiting to hear back.
We also reached out to the city's Department of Community & Resident Services.
They told us the situation is dangerous and residents should report a complaint with code enforcement.
If they must be relocated, the Department of Community and Resident Services will temporarily house residents in a hotel until they can find a long-term relocation.
According to the city's code enforcement database, there have been five separate housing code enforcement service requests for the Fox Run Apartments since Jan 21.
The timeline coincides with the date residents say they lost their hot water.
Kelly says there are a lot of kids and elderly that live in the low-income housing apartment. Lexington has also seen freezing cold and snow for the past week.
"No one deserves this. And they're not going to do anything about it. After all the complaints and everything you figured they just be hopping on it firing management, firing all the maintenance getting new people in here, you figured they'd be on it," said Kelly.
"Four complaints, from four different tenants came in beginning on 1/21/22, that there was no hot water. On 1/21/22 a Code Enforcement Officer spoke with the management. We were informed a main water supply line to a central boiler broke sometime on the 19th. The basement area needed to be pumped out in order to assess the damage, and was reportedly accomplished on the 20th, and plumbers were coming on the 21st. Our follow up on Monday the 24th, that parts were ordered. Clean up and prep continued, some parts arrived by the 26th, some are still not on site. Repairs are continuing and the water may be back on as early as tomorrow, but it will take time to reheat that volume of water, and the State also needs to inspect the repairs. We have not issued any deadlines by way of Notice at this time. Our Officer has been in contact with the management and the four tenants and we feel all the necessary measures are being taken to get hot water restored. We understand the management has initiated their own outreach to keep all affected tenants updated, and offering assistance, if needed."
- Code Enforcement
