For the last five days, tenants at The Vibe on Thomas Apartments have been without hot water.
The apartments are located near 28th Street and Thomas Road in Phoenix.
Tenants said they are fed up, and when they turn on the hot water faucet, not a drop comes out.
“No. No hot water at all since Friday,” said tenant Nicole Murphy.
A broken boiler was the issue, according to Jeff Hanrath, designated broker for the management company Valley Income Properties.
He said it's part of a laundry list of problems they inherited from the previous management just last month.
“Nobody lets us know anything unless we go down there and talk to them," said Gary Caravalho, a veteran who lives at the complex.
Murphy said she’s lived there for almost three months, and not having hot water for the last five days is not OK.
“Having to take a bath in the sink and heating up your own water-- it’s disgusting. I’m pregnant,” Murphy said.
These are problems that Ken Volk hears all the time. He's the president of the Arizona Tenants Advocates organization.
Hot water is an essential service, according to the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.
Landlords must take care of the problem when they’re notified, Volk said.
“But the point being, the landlord cannot be held accountable until you create a paper trail to hold them accountable," Volk said.
A new boiler was finally being delivered to the property Wednesday afternoon, but not having hot water isn’t the only issue.
“It’s miserable. You wake up and there’s bugs crawling all over your crap," Carvalho said.
Tenants said the complex also has not had air conditioning for months, but according to the management company, that's because the chilling tower gets turned on around May when temperatures really heat up.
Right now, the unit is broken and will have to be repaired, Hanrath said.
