APACHE JUNCTION, AZ — An elderly couple is still struggling to move home after a fire displaced them two years ago.
They reached out to ABC15 for help after a multitude of issues led to the couple feeling like they had nowhere else to turn.
Wayne and Rose Malachek lost their mobile home in a fire in Apache Junction.
“You don’t realize what you’ve lost until the next morning [when] you go to scrub your teeth and you don’t have a toothbrush," Wayne said.
The couple has been staying in a family’s mobile home unit ever since.
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A year ago, they set up a new mobile on their rented lot in Apache Junction, but still haven’t been able to move in.
The big sticking point is a 20-year-old detached Arizona Room that survived the fire. The couple says they lost all paperwork they had with original management for that addition in the fire and no city permits have been found, leaving them to get it up to code retroactively.
“If we were to have to tear that down then we will move," Wayne said. “There has been no question about any compliance, any problem, in the past 20 years."
As for their main mobile home, a letter the couple’s attorney provided said their park management pulled their electrical meter.
The city then found out that the electric use for the unit goes over what’s allotted for the space.
These issues are only a few in a long list of things that have come up over the past two years, including new setback changes, an eviction notice and plenty of back and forth with attorneys.
"What can we do to keep things going to get back into our new trailer which we’ve never been in?" Rose said.
ABC15 took her question to park management and to the City of Apache Junction. The park has not responded.
Meanwhile, Apache Junction city officials said they confirmed the electrical load problem was fixed and Wayne and Rose can move in, but only to the main part of the home while the outside Arizona room is still getting up to code.
However, Wayne and Rose say they're still waiting on their park to sign the new permit so they can move in.
The couple believes the process has been far too confusing, convoluted and constantly changing. They’ve spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours trying to go back home.
“It’s kind of getting very difficult this long time,” Wayne said. “Maybe we’ll make it better for the rest of the park if we can stick this out.”
