EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — The residents of an apartment building in East Hartford have been without heat since last Sunday as temperatures outside continue to drop.
The 65 people living at Chapman Arms Apartments also recently lost their water and they are saying enough is enough.
"It’s illegal, it’s unnecessary, and it’s irrelevant," said Julian Troche of East Hartford.
Troche has lived at the complex for four years and he said his experience is less than positive.
"There’s mold in there as well, there’s cockroaches," he said.
Last Sunday, it was the cherry on top when all four buildings lost heat.
East Hartford Mayor Connor Martin gave the landlord until 3 p.m. Thursday to fix the boiler that controls all the buildings, but the fix was unsuccessful.
That is when the town decided to relocate the 65 tenants to nearby hotels temporarily.
"I’m very disappointed as in who they are as a landlord, I’m very disappointed in the lack of priority for their residents, the lack of priority for quality of life," added Mayor Martin.
The mayor added the town had warned the landlord multiple times the boiler would eventually break down, but the warning was ignored.
"This boiler is going to fail at some sort. They didn’t do anything about it and here we are today in this situation," Martin said.
Before being allowed to move to the hotels, Troche said he and other tenants had to get creative in keeping warm.
"Just hibernate! Turn the oven on, leave it on. They gave us space heaters, but they know it’s like a safety hazard in the time being, so that doesn’t really do much, so I’ve used that for my room only because I have a one bedroom but it’s not enough," added Troche.
According to the mayor, the town's building inspector is working with the landlord on a permanent fix for the boiler.
Once it is fixed, the inspector will make sure the boiler is repaired properly and is code-compliant.
For now, however, the tenants can continue to stay in the hotels.
"The cost of having these residents in this hotel will ultimately be the landlord’s whether they want to accept that or not," Martin said.
FOX61 reached out to Stratis Equities, the company that owns the complex, and also reached out to the property manager.
Carmen Chau is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at cchau@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook and X.
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