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Call 12: Broken AC left tenant steaming Tempe ordinance: Apartments’ temperature can’t pass 82 degrees By Veronica Sanchez Call 12 for Action Sat Aug 10, 2013 7:43 PM Adrienne Lachman used to be a very active woman. Competing in various marathons, the Tempe resident enjoyed exercising outdoors. But all that came to an end when she took a nasty spill off a bicycle. After that accident, she had to have hip-replacement surgery. These days Lachman is disabled and living in a tiny apartment complex in Tempe. She has a hard time getting around, but her stay at the Marianna Apartments was — for the most part — pleasant until a few weeks ago. She spent four miserable nights without air-conditioning after her unit broke in the middle of the night. “It was just awful,” Lachman said. “Miserable!” When her unit broke down, Lachman first complained to her apartment manager. She said she got nowhere. “First of all, they don’t answer their phone. All you get is just an answering machine,” she said. Frustrated, she then complained to housing officials at the city of Tempe. Lachman said they told her about the city’s ordinance — which states no rental home or apartment can be warmer than 82 degrees indoors on a hot day. When city officials visited Lachman’s apartment complex, she said her apartment was 98 degrees inside. Lachman said city officials suggested she move into a hotel until the situation was resolved. Frustrated, she reached out to Call 12 for Action. A day after that happened, Lachman said her broken air-conditioning unit was replaced with a brand-new one. Spokesman Lynette Fleming with Infinity Wealth Real Estate, the company that manages the Marianna Apartments, said mangers at the complex were more than willing to help out Lachman after her air-conditioning unit broke down. Fleming said Lachman’s unit broke on a Sunday and they called her the following Monday to see how they could get her a new unit. “We did reach out to Adrienne as soon as she complained and we were in compliance.” Said Fleming. “But we were at the mercy of an air-conditioning vendor, and these things take time.” Despite the fact that Fleming said the decision to replace the air-conditioning unit was already in the works, Lachman is thankful to Call 12 for Action and believes our volunteer expedited the resolution. “It’s just so nice that someone cares. I just felt so helpless in this situation,” Lachman said. |
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