Frustrated Montecito Pointe tenants question management's transparency during power outage
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Residents of the Montecito Pointe apartment complex in northwest Las Vegas have been without power for a fifth day, and frustration is mounting as they await answers from management.
Lynn Ramig, a resident, said, “There have been no companies there. Three of us have been to the units, and there are no electricians, and they keep saying our electricians are on the property, where at another house? Cause they’re not at our building.”
The prolonged outage has left many residents emotionally and financially strained.
Ashley, a resident, expressed their distress, saying, “I can not have my children here with me in either of these units; there are no cabinets, there is no power, there’s no AC, there’s no running water, and I miss my kids.”
“I’m running out of money after tonight, I don’t have $100 again for tomorrow, and that’s what they’re not understanding, I’m not what $600 out of my pocket,” said Lynn.
“My mother had to cut her visitation time short with my youngest brother, who she shares custody with, because we don’t have AC. He had to go back to his dad’s because he has special needs; he can’t be in the apartment,” said Carley, another resident.
Efforts to reach the management have been met with silence.
Despite multiple attempts to contact the corporate office in Long Beach, California, and visits to the local office.
A sign on the office door indicated staff were in a “mandatory meeting” for the second consecutive day.
Residents recently received an email stating, “We have found an electrician who has stated they can get this repaired today. We do not want to guarantee this will be back on today, but it is what we are being told.”
However, many tenants remain skeptical and frustrated by the lack of transparency.
“There are little bits and pieces of information, and they’re not being transparent at all; they’re not answering anyone’s phone calls. The office was closed when I went by. So they’re just kind of avoiding all of us,” said Carely. “I wish they would stop dodging us and talk to us like we’re humans and not just a unit number.”
Some residents have been offered portable air conditioning units or empty apartments to cope with the heat.
Under state law, your landlord is required to maintain your rental property in a habitable condition.
“Habitable condition” generally means that the rental property is livable so that an average person could reside there in reasonable comfort.
Your landlord must also provide certain “essential items or services,” unless your lease says differently.
“Essential items or services” generally means that your rental property has heat, air-conditioning, running water, hot water, electricity, gas, a functioning door lock, and other essential items or services.
If you are having a problem with habitability or an essential item or service, you can follow the five steps below to give your landlord written notice of the problem and an opportunity to fix it.
- Step 1: Is your problem “essential” or “nonessential?”
- Step 2: Mail your landlord a written notice
- Step 3: Wait to see whether your landlord repairs
- Step 4: Enforce your rights if the landlord fails to repair
- Step 5: Watch to see what your landlord does