‘We can’t keep doing this’: More Overland Park tenants speak out
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Dozens, if not more, residents in Overland Park’s The Lakes at Lionsgate Luxury Apartments have been waiting weeks for air conditioning.
A mother and her two kids who don’t have air conditioning or hot water were among those to join the list of frustrated tenants willing to speak out. Shilo Webb moved into the Lakes at Lionsgate, where rent tops out at nearly $3,000, in March. By the start of May when temperatures heated up, she’d find out her air conditioning wasn’t working and reported it.
“I say, ‘Can you just tell me where I am on the list,’ and she pulls it up and she’s like, ‘You have an open ticket from August of last year,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh does that move me up any,’ and she says, ‘There’s still 100 and however many people ahead of you,'” Webb said.
Raytown schools investigating fight between staff member, student
That was seven weeks ago. Last Wednesday she had to report another big problem when her hot water heater was leaking and draining out under several rooms of her apartment without air conditioning.
“You can just see it’s still dripping, there’s water under it,” said Webb.
“It’s warped this whole wall. It’s wet, it’s gross it smells. It makes almost like a sauna in here.”
The water also went into her neighbor’s apartment where there’s a giant wet spot on the carpet.
“It was like on Thursday of last week but as we speak nobody has come and seen what is happening,” said neighbor Kunal Govani.
“I went again today probably at 2 or 230 p.m.”
“Unless you call FOX4 news they aren’t getting to you,” another resident Brian Schwartz said Monday when FOX4 Problem Solvers was immediately able to get him help after months of waiting on air conditioning repair.
Multiple residents also have told FOX4 they’ve struggled to get anyone to answer the maintenance emergency line and the mailbox is full. A different resident told FOX4 it took six days of multiple office visits in May to get a replacement refrigerator at that time because maintenance was already prioritizing air conditioning repair.
“The phones ringing and the other lady is like, ‘Do you need to get that’ and she was like, ‘No we aren’t answering it because we don’t have updates for people,'” Webb said of a recent trip to the office after no luck reaching anyone either on the main or emergency maintenance line.
That’s why Kelsey Okwomi, her parents and an 18-month-old baby went to the office Tuesday at the same time as FOX4 to try to get answers.
Tenants in luxury Overland Park apartments say they’ve reported A/C issues for months
“I came in there trying to say there’s a baby, she can’t sleep, it’s hot, it’s humid and they won’t do anything,” Okwomi said, reporting temperatures inside her apartment had reached 90 degrees.
Staff inside the leasing office said once again Tuesday they were not authorized to speak to the media nor provide any information about their management company, a contact person or phone number.
While FOX4 was inside another leasing agent told Okwomi what several tenants have reported being told, there’s a wait for maintenance nearly 100 residents long.
“We’re at the bottom of the list I’m not waiting 2 weeks for A/C. I’m not, that’s not happening,” Okwomi said.
In the meantime, Webb has spent several hundred dollars on fans and a portable air conditioner, while she watches the water destroy her apartment – and her neighbors. All she can do is wait.
“I might just exercise the option to leave and just pay the fee,” Webb said
“We can’t keep doing this through the summer, we aren’t even in the hottest months yet.”
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
