BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Tenants at the Linda Lane Apartments reached out to 7News for the third time in 15 months after continuously experiencing shocking conditions inside their homes.
Now that there is a new ownership group and a new name of the apartments, there is optimism that their issues will be resolved.
On Tuesday, a tenant at the apartments sent 7News several photos and videos of water leaking out of walls and ceilings, that eventually flooded the apartment.
A Linda Lane tenant, Armecia Blackman, says the maintenance staff believes the problem at the apartments goes beyond plumbing. Blackman says she wants to move to a new unit or building, but that she hasn't seen much progress with that request.
7News first took viewers inside of the apartments last July. Tenant Brittany Lewis lived on the bottom floor, and was cleaning up her fourth flood of the year.
Lewis showed 7News the mushrooms that were growing through the floor - she said she had tried for weeks to get maintenance in to address the problems.
We reached out to the complex owners at the time, who claimed they working with Lewis to resolve the situation.
Six months later, in January 2022, another tenant reached out with new concerns. Timothy Walsh showed not only the mold that grew around his home, but the overflowing garbage dumpsters, and a dead rat in his garage.
A month after Walsh's report, a new owner took over the complex and put "standard property management" in charge. 7News spoke with the property manager, who said he saw our previous reporting, and knew about these problems.
He says they are now in the process of fixing the major issues.
The need for a permanent fix is evident inside of the apartment. Another tenant says she has been dealing with water problems for almost a year.
Another tenant says they did not want to show their face on camera but says that she's had problems as well and does not want her child living in these conditions.
"There was a point when my toilet was out and hot water went out in the whole building. It was like a week before they came out to turn it back on," the tenant said.
According to Standard Property Management, they are working to fix what I'm told is a decades-old drainage problem.
Gregory Suffoletto of Standard Property Management says that it will take months to fix the problem and that it will cost a lot of money.
"It is fixable, very expensive, fixable but they're 60, 70 percent done with it," Suffoletto said. "The new owners are aware of the issue. We saw the stories obviously but they put capital aside on the purchase. Every time we get a tenant reply like this, we're there within 24 hours."
Suffoletoo said that when all is said and done, the entire project could cost 7 figures.
They have said that they hope the problem is fixed soon. The property manager says on top of the drainage project, they plan to put in new blacktop and landscaping.
This story is something that 7News has been covering for over a year and we will continue to follow up for not only the tenants living at Maryvale, but the public as well.
