BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — In January, 7 Problem Solvers brought you the story of Vickie Golisano, an Albion landlord who was left with a trashed apartment. Golisano said the tenants, who lived there, made the mess before they left on a nuisance eviction. When Rose Woodson, of Buffalo, saw that story, she reached out to 7 Problem Solver Michael Schwartz claiming a similar issue.
Woodson told Schwartz she bought a duplex on Walden Avenue about 15 years ago for her children. Woodson said has three children, a son who served in the Army, a son who was a Marine and a daughter who served in the Air Force. Woodson said she wanted a place for them to live when they came back from service. Around 2012 is when Woodson said her daughter moved into the lower apartment.
"From the moment she left out of that house...it was terrible," said Woodson. "I kept that house spotless."
Woodson's boyfriend Leslie took Schwartz through the lower apartment on Wednesday. He was met with a broken door and broken windows in the front, a pile of trash in the living room, a disgusting kitchen and a nearby bathroom with feces on the floor and toilet.
"I cleaned up a lot of feces already," said Leslie to Schwartz. They continued into a basement that was full of garbage and household items that Leslie claimed was left by the tenants.
Woodson and Leslie said it started in January of 2020 when the tenants stopped paying rent. They told Schwartz when the pandemic struck, the tenants in the lower apartment used it as an another excuse to not pay rent. The couple says two years of not rent has now left them out $15,000.
Woodson said she was harassed and was able to get a nuisance petition to still have the tenants evicted during the rent moratorium. Leslie said the tenants left on November 14, 2021.
A tenant who lived in the lower apartment got back to Schwartz on Thursday morning and said they didn't cause the mess, and is "shocked" by the allegations.
7 Problem Solvers will now work on a follow up story to hear from the people who lived in this apartment.
If you have an issue you need help looking into, contact Michael at 7ProblemSolvers@wkbw.com
