LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A tenant at Rose Tower Apartments in downtown Lexington says his reports of water damage and mold have been ignored by management for months, despite multiple flooding incidents.
"My living room is neat. I mean, it ain't the best stuff, but I keep my stuff neat. I've been here for 16 months, and my apartment has been flooded out four times," Tyrone Dunn said.
Dunn's frustration is mounting after moving to a new unit in the same building due to mold issues, only to encounter the same problems again.
"Don't think this is the only problem," said Dunn. "Because if it's right here, it's on every floor."
According to Dunn, he notified management about problems in his current unit on April 18 – including mold on the walls and water seeping through the floor. However, he claims that maintenance didn't take action until this week.
"You can see the mold and mildew here!" Dunn showed us.
Maintenance crews tore down his bedroom wall on Monday, exposing mold, but Dunn reports they haven't returned to clean up. His bedroom is now covered in dust and drywall debris, with furniture moved and no explanation provided about when work will continue.
"And this right here?" Dunn said, kicking a trash bag. "This is the stuff they dug off the wall."
Dunn contacted code enforcement last month. Records show officials visited the apartment and contacted HUD, describing the situation as serious and in need of a quick response.
When code enforcement returned this week, they documented: "Management had scraped the drywall, exposing and spreading mold spores and left mess on floor. Management was not on site to discuss issues."
"They keep doing this patchwork to save money. Hate to say it, but I know that's what they're doing," Dunn said.
With affordable housing difficult to find, Dunn believes other tenants are afraid to speak up for fear of losing their homes, but he's convinced the mold issues and concerns are widespread in the building.
"The other tenants feel the same way but they're afraid to talk because of repercussions from the office. I'm not," Dunn said.
Dunn says the health department plans to visit the apartment Thursday morning.
LEX 18 was asked to leave the Rose Tower Apartments by a property manager. Our team reached out to a contact provided by the office, PK Management, but had not received a response at the time of this publication.
