Tenants fed-up with sewerage issues at complex

Tenants fed-up with sewerage issues at complex

Landlord says tenant is to blame

 

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The fed-up tenants of a triplex on Rocky Pine Road sought to voice their concerns on Tuesday about the poor upkeep and unsanitary conditions of their rental unit.

The landlord, however, was able to give an explanation of why tenants are experiencing these issues.

When Eyewitness News Online visited the Rocky Pine Road apartment complex on Tuesday, the stench of feces permeated throughout the unit. And according to tenant Ella Murphy, there was a major fecal explosion in the washroom of her unit because the landlord allegedly failed to regularly service their complex’s sewerage tank.

This, she said, has led to serious medical issues.

“Ever so often the cesspit would just back up and he would never pump the cesspit,” Murphy alleged.

“The tub that he promised to change from the time I moved here, he never changed the tub so I told him I cannot bathe in that tub because of the filth that comes up in the tub.

“It was very uncomfortable because there were times I couldn’t sleep in the house.

“I would come out and sleep at my niece or sleep at some friends’ place.

“My daughter every so often is also getting this headache and feeling sick and I think it is because of this.”

After complaining to the landlord about the sewerage issue, the tenants of the triplex alleged that the landlord just unscrewed the main sewer line to the house, which led to the ejection of a mass amount of waste including condoms, tissue and fecal matter outside of the complex.

Another tenant, Jazmyne Brown, alleged that her apartment has also had similar occurrences, forcing her to rack up expensive bills in order to remedy the waste situation.

“The [feces] used to gush out and it used to come up in the tub with all the stool and all the tissue… for days it’ll be in there because it’ll never go out. We could never use the bathroom at all,” Brown claimed.

“We had to spend almost $300 buying more detergent to keep the place sanitized. We had to go other places to bathe, to sleep.

“It was totally uncomfortable.”

However, Eyewitness News Online reached out on Tuesday to the landlord, Jamal Cooper, who alleged that the sewerage issue is the result of Murphy’s own actions.

“Ella Murphy has a little kitchen place across the road from Saunders Beach so she cooks,” the landlord explained.

“So every day she’s cooking; she’s boiling pots and pots of meat and flushing the water down the drain.

“I mean the grease gets hard, and the place was never built for the type of heavy commercial cooking [and now] I’m experiencing a problem.”

Meanwhile, the residents lament that they simply want the matter dealt with once and for all so that they and future occupants can live in a safe and healthy space.

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This article was written by Matthew Moxey – Eyewitness News Intern