(WHAS11) - This Consumer Watch comes from a woman in Louisville’s west end who says she's been without a functioning furnace and working water heater for more than seven months, ever since the flash flooding back in August.
She called WHAS11's Andy Treinen and Andy answered.
Angel Woodson says she and her daughter, Emani, have been living in a rental home without heat and hot water since Louisville’s flash flood.
In October her daughter was diagnosed with severe asthma and allergies.
"You can see it in her eyes she can't breathe, she has a hard time breathing she's congested, she's coughing..’mommy I can't breath I can't eat I can't sleep’," says Woodson.
Angel says she’s used two different space heaters to heat her home, even in the dead of winter when the temperatures were below freezing. When she wants hot water she simply takes a pot and puts it up on the stovetop. Andy tried running the sink for over 5 minutes now and the water was still cold.
Woodson claims she told her landlord about the broken hot water heater and furnace in August, and repeatedly over the next few months, specifically when she paid him in person with a money order in September, October and November.
When Andy called the landlord, Jeff Osmond, he pointed out that she withheld rent in December, January and February. After the threat of eviction, Woodson is now all paid up.
Osmond says he didn't hear about the hot water heater and furnace problems until February 12th, when the health department gave him a 14-day deadline to fix several problems.
Osmond claims he missed the health department's deadline because Angel wasn't giving him enough access to the home.
Woodson says she only sent crews home early one time because Emani had a doctor’s appointment.
The ‘He said - She said’ continues on the topics of withheld rent, back-rent through the Legal Aid Society and eviction.
But the struggle is improving. Within 50 minutes of WHAS11’s call, Osmond’s crews were at the house making repairs.
Woodson has filed paperwork through the Legal Aid Society seeking $1,500 in back rent.
It’s to cover rent paid for some of the months when she was living in the cold with no hot water.
If there's a consumer issue you want Andy to investigate, all you have to do is send an e-mail to consumerwatch@whas11.com.
