NEW ORLEANS -- Some people renting apartments Uptown feel they are being taken advantage of. They say they're paying pretty hefty rents for very little in return.
But the landlords who own more than 30 buildings say that's not true, and that they're 'doing a good job.'
Their apartment buildings are on some of the city's most prestigious streets: St. Charles Avenue, Napoleon Avenue and Prytania Street.
But some who rentfrom Howard and Laura Russell say there's nothing prestigious about it.
'It's a ripoff. I shouldn't be paying what I pay to be living in almost squalor,' said Tim, who requested that his identity be concealed.
Tim has been renting from the Russells for nearly a year. He pays $635 a month fora one-room and kitchen apartment.
He said his three windows are rotting and there's a 1-to-2 inch gap to the outside. The wood undera moldy air conditioner is saturated, and the water leaks next to the electrical outlet. The walls are crumbling and the ceiling is falling in.
Tim said living above in the attic are squirrels and pigeons.
'Everyday going to sleep, waking up, especially in the bathroom at least it sounds like two to four pigeons scurrying, making noises, flopping wings,'he said.
'It probably needs to be borderline condemned I'd say,' said Kenny,who also asked that his identity be concealed. 'It's pretty bad.'
Kenny said he pays $950 a month to live in an apartment owned by the Russells.
Rotten wood is holding up the back part of the apartment. There is wet and rotting wood everywhere, tape instead of glass, stairs about to collapse, even an old outhouse and exposed wires.
'It's terrifying and there's all sorts of wall sockets that I just know not to use,' Kenny said. 'I can just look at them and say I'm not touching that one.'
His packed garage appears untouched for years, but Kenny says it's next to his closet inside. He cleans the door of the white powdery substance and black mold with no success.
'I've bleached the door and a couple of weeks later it will be back fuzzy. You know, a door that's fuzzy,' Kenny said.
Nancy Adams, who lives across from the Russell building, said the complex is 'disgraceful' and said it's a neighborhood killer.
'When we've tried to do things about his property, very little gets done,' Adams said. 'People come and go, come and go because things don't get repaired. It's very difficult to watch from across the street.'
The Russells are not new to the apartment industry. They own 36 buildings throughout the city.Eyewitness Newsvisited 23 of those addresses over a three-week period and certainly not all of the apartments have problems, but there are pages and pages on the Internet complaining about the condition of some of the apartments and the lack of maintenance.
One woman successfully sued the Russells after falling in a leaky laundry room. In his decision, the judge stated the property owner 'lacked credibility for a business owner who manages over 150 units to have no records whatsoever with respect to maintenance and complaints.'
WWL-TVtalked to dozens of people who live in Russell-owned apartments. A lot of college students and first-timers in the market, many complained of the conditions but didn't want to go on camera because they needed a place to live.EyewitnessNewsalso talked to people who have moved out -- their biggest complaint, they paid a security deposit but didn't get it back.
'I paid $1,000 as a security deposit,' said Ann Thompson.
Thompson lived in a Russell apartment for two years. She said she left it better than when she arrived, but now she's an attorney, and she had to take the Russells to court to get her money back.
'I have not heard of a single person who rented from them who ever received their security deposit back without having to sue,' Thompson said.
But others say their biggest gripe is the Russell's response to problems.
'They're pretty much MIA,' Kenny said. 'Any help of fixes that we needed, they just don't respond to 'em.'
'There's almost no response,' Tim said.
Their rent checks go to a new jersey P.O. Box, because since the storm that's where Howard and Laura Russell have lived, managing the apartments from there.
WWL contacted them by telephone in New Jersey about the complaints. Howard Russell said he's stunned to hear about them andthis story, and that he stands behind his apartments.
'Because the fact is, they rent,' Howard Russell said. 'People come in to look at the condition of the outside, but I think we do a good job.
'My payroll and my Visa bills and what-not are enormous, are enormous every month, as I said there is no budget on it. Whatever it requires, it requires,' he said.
When it comes to the response to requests from their renters, Howard Russell said his wifeLaura gets more than 100 calls a day.
'You know, it's a contentions situation,' Howard Russell said. 'They don't think that we responded fast enough, but we do. We always respond.'
Howard also disputes claims they don't return security deposits, though he says sometimes deductions are made.
The Russells say they are not the neglectful landlords some say they are.
'It's kind of embarrassing, in a sense, to live here,' Tim said.
Some of the people EyewitnessNews spoke tosay they rented on Craigslist from out of town and didn't see the place first, or they saw some of the problems on the walkthrough but were told by management any problems would be fixed.
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