Apartment Owner Comes to Town, Sits with KLBK for First Interview
By: Monica Yantosh
Updated: January 16, 2013
A roof that blew off, no hot water for almost a month, and flooded apartments, all problems that have been an issue for at least a month at the Baytree Apartments in Central Lubbock.
"We were expecting different things from each other than what ended up happening," said Ed Lechner, owner of the Baytree Apartments.
Lechner said he too is unsure of what is taking so long to get things fixed around the complex. "It's sort of a mystery to me why things didn't get done that should have gotten done," said Lechner. "If I had realized two weeks ago that we were going to be in the position we are in today, I would have given the roofers the go ahead two weeks ago."
For many of the problems, Lechner blames communication, or lack there of, between him and the on-site management. Lechner resides in California.
"They say, 'here's a problem', and my assumption had been, 'here's a problem, for your information we're solving it', and in fact they had been intending, 'here's a problem, what do you want us to do about it?'" said Lechner.
"The owner, Ed, he just doesn't want to fix the property," said Donna Holloway, who lives in the Baytree. She had been moved out of her original apartment recently because she lived in one of the units where the roof blew off.
Residents like Holloway said they just want someone to do something.
When we told him many of the residents don't feel like Lechner cares about them, he said that's not the case. "No that's not the case at all," said Lechner. "That's another thing I was hoping to do on this trip was put out a notice to residents, come talk to me." He was unable to schedule that meeting.
KLBK will continue to follow up with the Codes Department as well as the City Health Department to find out what else can be done for the tenants, as well as keeping up with the owners and managers to make sure the roof gets fixed.
"We were expecting different things from each other than what ended up happening," said Ed Lechner, owner of the Baytree Apartments.
Lechner said he too is unsure of what is taking so long to get things fixed around the complex. "It's sort of a mystery to me why things didn't get done that should have gotten done," said Lechner. "If I had realized two weeks ago that we were going to be in the position we are in today, I would have given the roofers the go ahead two weeks ago."
For many of the problems, Lechner blames communication, or lack there of, between him and the on-site management. Lechner resides in California.
"They say, 'here's a problem', and my assumption had been, 'here's a problem, for your information we're solving it', and in fact they had been intending, 'here's a problem, what do you want us to do about it?'" said Lechner.
"The owner, Ed, he just doesn't want to fix the property," said Donna Holloway, who lives in the Baytree. She had been moved out of her original apartment recently because she lived in one of the units where the roof blew off.
Residents like Holloway said they just want someone to do something.
When we told him many of the residents don't feel like Lechner cares about them, he said that's not the case. "No that's not the case at all," said Lechner. "That's another thing I was hoping to do on this trip was put out a notice to residents, come talk to me." He was unable to schedule that meeting.
KLBK will continue to follow up with the Codes Department as well as the City Health Department to find out what else can be done for the tenants, as well as keeping up with the owners and managers to make sure the roof gets fixed.
