Roseau mobile home residents fight water issues as bills skyrocket
ROSEAU, Minn. (Valley News Live) — Roseau residents are coming to Valley News Live’s Whistleblower Hotline speaking out about water issues they’re having at a mobile home park.
Listed as ‘vibrant, affordable, and budget-friendly,’ Eastside & Westside mobile homes, located at 1006 3rd St NE Lot 14, are anything but, according to Sandy Skogstad. “It’s just been nothing but trouble,” she said.
They’re managed by Knights Communities, who were the first to know about a water leak under Sandy’s trailer.
“I had an excessive amount of water leaking under my house,” she explained. A bucket can be seen under her trailer, full, collecting water that’s leaking everywhere.
As it leaked, Sandy saw money leaving her pocket.
In a video she posted to social media, she filmed the gushing water and said, “I’m gonna have to pay for the water bill, for sure.” She quickly called her property manager for help.
“And he goes, ‘Nope, it’s your problem,’” Skogstad said. After that, she didn’t know where to turn. “Nobody now will answer my phone calls. Nobody is getting back to me. The water is just running and running.”
Whoever’s problem — she just wanted it to stop. She stood outside of Roseau City Hall and demanded answers. “I told the Mayor I was going to pump it out onto their city streets until somebody noticed because nobody would do anything.”
After reaching out to multiple people for help, she took to Facebook. “Please, everyone, please share this video,” she said as she walked around filming the trailer.
Only after these efforts did she receive a letter from her property management saying a water meter they put in was improperly installed, and she will not be charged for the excess water.
The letter reads:
“Hello Sandra, I appreciate that it has taken more than adequate time to find a plumber to correct the faulty meter install. There are a couple of things I wanted to make sure you were aware of: 1.) No one had ever denied Rick J to fix the leak, all that was asked was pictures and a report as to what work was done — we did receive pictures of the actively faulty meter installation that is pouring water. 2.) At no point were you denied coverage, all that was requested of you and the contractor addressing the leak, were pictures and a written report attached to their invoice — whether they billed you or Westside was not an issue, provided the repair was a faulty install and documentation was submitted, you were not on the hook for cost of repair. 3.) Had the leak been repaired and was discovered to be a fault of installation, your water bill will be adjusted accordingly — you will not pay for the water that was spilled in lieu of the faulty installation. 4.) Unannounced to us until last minute, the contractor you had intended to work with, of which we were prepared to trust and accommodate to ensure repairs were not only made, but were proper, backed out of plumbing work and indicated he has decided to retire from plumbing trades and works in general — leaving me with no options that aren’t booked out 14-36 days.”
They also indicated the water meter will be fixed, free of charge.
Other tenants, however, aren’t so lucky.
A tenant of Eastside/Westside sent a video to Valley News Live showing the water system underneath his trailer. “I’m being charged for a meter that’s not on my place,” he claimed.
Other tenants told us they’ve recently been hit with high-priced bills from similar, alleged water issues.
A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, explained, “They said I used 28 thousand gallons of water. If I used 28 thousand gallons of water, it had to go somewhere. I didn’t have any leaks or anything, so something was off there,” the man said.
He recently wrote a check for these unexpected bills, which marked a breaking point.
“Well, actually, my house is for sale because of these issues. I’ve had people come and look and I’ve told them all the same thing: If you’re gonna buy it, pull the trailer out of here,” he added.
Those with Roseau Mobile Home Communities Management provided a statement on these matters:
“We are well aware of these issues with the water lines underneath our residents homes and have made countless efforts to bring licensed professionals out to resolve the issues. The issues resulted from what everyone could agree was one of the worst winters to run through the region of the country. Frozen pipes, leaky fittings, are all something we put in a conscious effort to avoid from happening. The issues reported by our residents have since been resolved at no cost to the resident and any water lost prior to the fix was not the residents financial responsibilty. We take pride in our management of the community and the care of our residents and we are deeply sorry for any hardship this may have caused.”
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