Tenants had no heat or water, and city paid to move them. Now, Columbia’s suing the owner
The city of Columbia is suing the owners of the Colony Apartments, which wereevacuated just after Christmas after residents reported having no heat or running water.
The Monroe Group, a Denver-based property management company, operates Columbia’s Colony Apartments at 3545 West Beltline Blvd. in addition to more than 80 properties nationwide. After residents at the Colony Apartments said they went without heat or running water for days in late December, city officials intervened, evacuating the property. Evacuated residents were sent to hotels, where some stayed for weeks.
The city is asking a judge to force the company to pay $52,129.10 to cover the costs of evacuating hundreds of residents and the costs for repairs at the apartments that were meant to be the responsibility of the property owners.
The State previously reported that the company could face nearly $200,000 in fines and fees related to the December event.
Already, the company has been fined more than $46,000 for code enforcement penalties and nearly $50,000 for fire code violations found when officials inspected the property following the evacuation.
Collecting those fines is a separate process from the new lawsuit, and the city is still pursuing those fees, a city spokesman confirmed.
That means in addition to the $96,000 in fines, the Company could be on the hook for another $52,000 to cover the city’s costs.
Those costs include more than $28,000 for Columbia police personnel, which includes both uniformed officers and code enforcement officers; $20,818 for Columbia-Richland Fire Department personnel; $1,654 for meals for the evacuated residents; $971 for the usage of the police department’s mobile command bus; $394 for bus rentals to transport the evacuated residents; and $77 for Parks and Recreation personnel time.
The suit also requests an injunction requiring the Monroe Group to properly maintain the complex.
The lawsuit comes after city officials, including Mayor Daniel Rickenmann, have decried the Monroe Group’s oversight of the apartment complex and its handling of the crisis situation.
The 17-page suit was filed April 17 by a Columbia city attorney, Mike Hemlepp.
The Monroe Group also has been under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The majority of units at the Colony Apartments complex are tied to Section 8 housing vouchers, a program overseen by HUD.
The incident
Just two days after Christmas, residents of roughly 300 apartment units in the Colony Apartments complex were evacuated when they reported having no heat or running water due to a massive water main break at the property.
Residents were bused to hotels, where some stayed for weeks while fire and code inspectors assessed the conditions of each apartment.
Fire and code inspectors found issues far beyond the water main break. Code inspectors recorded violations at 144 of the more than 300 units at the site. Fire inspectors recorded issues at 92 units.
Gas had to be shut of in 20 of the 80 buildings that comprise the large complex because of gas leaks inside apartment units, the lawsuit adds.
From the outset of the crisis, Monroe Group representatives were difficult to reach and communication was inconsistent, according to both the lawsuit and city documents previously reported on by The State.
The lawsuit sheds more light on the back and forth between the city and Monroe Group leaders before and after the evacuation.
In early December, a leak appeared in the pipes supplying the Colony Apartments with fresh water as well as power for its steam-based heating system. The initial leak “was not necessarily a cause for the city’s concern,” as the infrastructure at the apartments is decades old, the suit reads.
But beginning Dec. 23, plunging local temperatures caused the existing leak to expand. The system was later found to be leaking more than 300,000 gallons of water per day, according to the city’s lawsuit.
The massive leak caused water pressure in the apartment’s system to fall, leaving residents in roughly 300 units with no running water as well as without heat because the heating system is steam-powered, according to the suit.
Colony Apartments management was notified of the leak Dec. 24, according to an email from Monroe Group President Justin Boyd to Rickenmann and City Manager Teresa Wilson.
Boyd wrote in the email that the company thought the leak had been repaired by a private vendor Dec. 24, but within two days tenants began reporting more water issues.
Boyd wrote that someone did arrive Dec. 27 to conduct repairs but was unable to begin until a leak detection company could first identify all potential breaks in the apartment’s water system.
Columbia Water employees had been trying to reach someone from the Monroe Group the morning of Dec. 27, and did not hear from a representative until 1:30 p.m. that day, according to emails from city staff about the situation and the new lawsuit. The representative wanted to know if the pipes were the city’s responsibility and was told they were the responsibility of the company.
The city’s lawsuit also asserts the failing infrastructure that caused the evacuation belonged to the owners of the apartment complex.
“If this had been a failure of the City’s infrastructure, Columbia Water would have immediately dispatched repair crews and resolved the situation,” the suit adds.
It also states the apartment complex’s maintenance teams were “ill-prepared and ill-equipped” for the situation. Keys weren’t available for every unit, and eventually a locksmith was called, the suit adds.
City officials opted to evacuate the apartments Dec. 27 after struggling to connect with the Monroe Group leadership, the suit also notes.
The incident with the Monroe Group, among other issues with problem landlords in the city, has led City Council to consider a new ordinance requiring landlords to be upfront with tenants about their rights as renters in South Carolina.
