CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On today's Troubleshooters, a woman has a complaint about the conditions she's living in, and while we were able to get one of them resolved, she said there are plenty more.
Laura Villarreal said she’s only lived in this apartment about a month, but she called us because feces had been backing up in her toilet for a couple of weeks now.
Even though she said she’s contacted the owner and maintenance man about the problem, it was easy to tell nothing had been done by the day the Troubleshooters showed up.
“At what point for you as a tenant is enough, enough? The poop coming up from my toilet that's not mine,” said Villarreal.
So the Troubleshooters contacted the owner, Mohammad Motaghi, who told us he’d send a plumber to Villarreal’s apartment that day.
Sure enough, two hours later, Villarreal let us know the problem was solved.
That was easy enough, and we thank Mr. Motaghi for that. But, that’s only part of this story.
Villarreal, who lives with her son, said her bottom burners on her kitchen stove don't work, and neither does her oven. Her heater doesn't work either, and she puts herself in danger, to get it to work.
“Every time we plug in the heater, all our breakers flip, so we go out and flip the box to turn the heat back on.”
The Troubleshooters contacted Liza Lopez with City Code Enforcement. She told us they send an officer to the property in Santa Fe once a week, and issue citations to Motaghi.
Motaghi told us Miss Villarreal‘s lease has expired, but she has not contacted them about renewing it.
He further says he will respond to complaints, but the tenants must also be responsible in maintaining what they can in their apartments.
He said that many tenants are taking advantage of the eviction moratorium and not paying any rent, and he believes they should still pay something each month.
