OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) – After what tenants say has been two years without sufficient heat, their apartment has started the process of putting in a new system. This comes after the city send a notice to the property owner.
- The property manager will started the process of installing heat in the apartment, Monday.
- KMTV is still trying to reach the properties owner.
- Wise Owl Properties owns at least 15 other properties in Douglas County.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It was another cold hard night for the tenants in the apartment building near 36th and Dewey in midtown that still doesn’t have sufficient heat. But there’s a glimmer of hope… KMTV was told maintenance workers were out here working on the boiler system Monday morning, which is just one step towards getting proper heat.
David Barenz and Jennifer Mischke said when they woke up Monday morning, the temperature in their apartment was below 40 degrees.
It’s just the latest cold night here, after according to them, the building has lacked sufficient heat for two years.
"We're going in circles, we are going in circles and getting nowhere,” Mischke said.
But now, what they said has been two years without sufficient heat, they have hope it will be fixed.
Barenz told KMTV, the property manager and maintenance technicians were in the building Monday morning working on the boiler system. A step towards getting the tenants in the building proper heat. This comes after a city inspector last week found the building was too cold and sent the building owner a notice to fix the heat before Feb. 10.
Through public property searches, KMTV found out the owner of Wise Owl Properties owns at least 15 other properties in Douglas County. Last week, KMTV called the Wise Owl Properties number, where we were unable to leave a message.
Monday, we reached out the owner Wise Owl Properties, a man who lives in California, through his personal number. We left a message and are still waiting for a response.
KMTV’s sister station in Kansas City went to visit the Wise Owl Properties office. They learned that although Wise Owl still has its name on the building, the company moved out months ago and the office is now owned by a law firm. Where the office moved to is unknown.
According to Caitlin Cedfeldt, an attorney at Legal Aid of Nebraska tenants can continue to live under these conditions due to the lack of laws protecting tenants in Nebraska
“The combination of the market pressures of affordable housing plus the law not being super great for tenants as a matter of getting things fixed really putting tenants in these situations that are really shocking for us to hear about,” Cedfeldt said.
