VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Mold, water damage and ripped up floors are just some of the problems residents at the Waterside at Lynnhaven apartment complex are dealing with after Hurricane Matthew ripped through Hampton Roads earlier this month.
Now they say soon they won’t even have a damaged home to go to.
“We haven’t lived in our home since [October 10th],” said Angelica Pearson, a resident at the apartment complex which houses nearly 200 units. “We’re going on week number three now. We paid our full rent for October. We’ve been told we’re not getting reimbursed for that, and as of November 1, we need to pay another rental payment or we need to leave.”
Residents in the damaged apartments say they were notified on Thursday afternoon that everything had to be out of their apartments in three days or less.
According to residents, property management officials told them they could stay at a hotel at their own expense, relocate to a sister property 40 minutes away in Hampton, or terminate their lease entirely and find another place to live.
“Obviously we weren’t in a position to move at this point, so coming up with a security deposit and truck rentals, and moving supplies, you know, you can’t just pull money out of the sky at this point,” Pearson told News 3’s Merris Badcock Thursday afternoon.
And for one family at the Waterside complex, the timing couldn’t be worse.
“My mom is getting married on Saturday, so all of this was very unexpected,”
The family didn’t want to be identified for privacy reasons, however they told News 3 many of the wedding decorations were damaged from the flooding.
“The night that the flood happened, we had to pretty much take towels and old newspapers and just soak everything up. It helped a little bit, but the smell for the next two days it was absolutely – it was just disgusting.”
Residents say all of this gets even more complicated because their complex was sold on Tuesday to another leasing company. They said the old company made empty promises – like pro-rating their rent for the days they were kicked out from the damage – and now the new leasing company isn’t upholding those promises.
We reached out to the leasing company, but have not received a response.
Related:
Tenant’s with terminated leases seek help from City of Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach residents already dealing with flood issues forced from homes due to asbestos
