MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A spokesperson with the City of Memphis said code enforcement will look into claims after FOX13 aired a story in which some students said they have been living with no heat amid freezing temperatures.
The students, who live in Tiger Estates on Spottswood Avenue, described living in a unit without heat or hot water, in some cases for months at a time.
“I’ve been calling them multiple times for the past week and a half and last month they came by and fixed it and they said we’ll go ahead and make a new work order for y’all because it’s going to go out again,” one tenant told FOX13 anonymously.
A city of Memphis spokesperson said code enforcement will inspect the units Tuesday.
“Today through Monday are official city holidays,” said Arlenia Cole, a spokesperson with the City of Memphis to Fox13 on Friday.
Officials cited the following as it relates to the enforcement of city codes:
“In circumstances where the complaint is for no working air, heat, or hot water the city considers those emergency violations and an inspection is performed within 24 business hours (holidays are the exception). If there is a violation present, a violation note will be issued to the owner to resolve the Code Violation. If the owner does not bring a violation into compliance, the owner is cited to Environmental Court.”
FOX13 took a trip to the complex after a concerned parent reached out to our newsroom informing of the issue. Students we spoke with described having the same issues over different periods of time.
“Over spring break of last year, I called them six times a day just to get someone to look at me,” said Aubrey Greer.
Another resident told us she has had no heat since Thanksgiving break.
“Inside, I wear long sleeve pants and a long sleeve shirt, or when I get off work at night, I just keep a hoodie on and sleep with a sweater.”
We learned from the tenants four students live in each unit and individually pay $900 per month.
“We shouldn’t have to deal with this with paying so much money and it’s just kind of ridiculous,” Greer said.
Other residents claimed the issues are constant and happen year around.
“Earlier this year around January or February when it was cold again, our heat was out for over a month and they still weren’t fixing it. They’re like, ‘We are on backtrack and we’ll give you heaters,’ but when they gave us heaters, they needed it back or we just got our own heaters,” one resident told us.
“Ok, we’ll get our own heaters, but then the electricity bill goes up $60 each person. Well, why should we be paying an extra $60 when we can’t have heat in our apartment living with no heat or air in the summertime?”
Fox13 reached out to property management, Meridian Premier Homes, multiple times within the last two days. We also called a maintenance number provided to us by a resident, at least three times. We left a message but have yet to hear back.
“I will send you an update after code enforcement completes their inspection at the Tiger Estates on Tuesday,” said Cole to FOX13, Friday.
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