A Huntsville renter and his family has an air conditioning crisis.
Bakari Fortman reached out to WZDX on Thursday, explaining that the air conditioning in his apartment at North Ridge Apartments has not been working for the past 13 days. He said it has been extremely hot inside for his family. His wife is pregnant, and they have a eight-month-old and a four-year-old.
“It’s getting pretty uncomfortable, especially for my wife,” said Fortman. “She actually had to go to the hospital because of the heat.”
Fortman said there have been issues with the air conditioning not working since May. A maintenance worker told him that the air conditioner is leaking Freon. Fortman explained that the maintenance worker has added Freon several times, and the air conditioning will work for a few days after, and then it will break again. He and his wife want a permanent fix soon.
Fortman says they’ve put in multiple maintenance requests, and he has even gone to the office to try to get answers.
“Nothing has been done,” said Fortman. “I’ve spoken to the maintenance men about it. Nothing has been done.”
After talking to the couple, WZDX’s Mary Stackhouse stopped by the leasing office to talk to management, however, they would not talk to her, and told me her it was private property.
Stackhouse reached out to Huntsville-based lawyer, Russell Crumbley of Crumbley-Blackwell and Associates, P.C., to find out what tenants can do in situations like the Fortman’s.
If your AC isn’t working and they won’t fix it, Crumbly says you can give a written notice to the landlord that it’s not working and that they have 14 days to get it fixed, and that if they don’t get it fixed within those 14 days, you are free to terminate the contract and move and that the landlord would have to return the deposit as well as any prepaid rent that hasn’t accrued yet.
Crumbley recommends making a copy of the letter and sending it to property management certified mail.
You can contact Crumbley about your case here: https://www.crumbleylaw.com/