Tenants frustrated after rain seeps through walls, ceilings

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    RAYTOWN, Missouri (KCTV KSMO) — Some people sleep better when it’s raining at night, but for many families in one Raytown apartment complex, that was not the case this weekend.

“I’m worried about tonight. The next few days. It’s just going to be raining here like it is outside,” Neshelle Robinson said.

Robinson lives at the Suncrest Apartments in Raytown.

Rain water has filled up multiple buckets from the ceiling in her bedroom, and the floor of the entire apartment feels like a sponge.

“I’ve been having issues for I’d say about a few months now. Every time it rains, it leaks. It just keeps building up until, actually, it just completely crashed the ceiling today,” Robinson said.

She had to move the salvageable contents of her bedroom to the dining room of the two bedroom apartment.

One soaked mattress will have to be thrown out, as well as several pairs of shoes.

Her unit is on the second floor of a three-story building. Right above her place, George Curtis is also dealing with water.

The water in Curtis’s bedroom is coming from the walls and the ceiling. It’s soaked much of his floor and he fears the ceiling may fall down due to the weight.

“For the money we are paying for it, it should be in better condition than it is,” Curtis said.

Curtis pays $795 a month for rent. Robinson pays $820, with help from a Section 8 Housing Voucher.

Neither resident could get apartment maintenance to come out on a weekend.

The Raytown Fire Department tried to get maintenance out as well with no luck.

Firefighters helped as much as they could by bringing over trash cans to collect water, turning off electricity to rooms in the home where water seeped into walls near electric outlets, and took pictures of damages inside several units.

According to a department spokesperson, Raytown’s fire marshal and city inspector will be at the apartment complex Monday to check for code violations.

The leaking ceilings and walls are plaguing at least three buildings on the property. But residents say there are many more possible code violations like exposed wires, doors falling off hinges, and clogged drain pipes.

Curtis decided to stay with a friend Sunday night, instead of sleeping in his leaky bedroom where he fears plugging in his medical equipment into the walls.

“I’m going to put my machine in the suitcase, take it with me and everything. And I shouldn’t have to carry all my health equipment around with me to have somewhere comfortable to sleep,” he said.

Meanwhile, Robinson and her three children have nowhere else to go.

“I’m just trying to live comfortable. You know? I’ll wake up and it’s just storming in this bedroom,” Robinson said. “I’m tired of it. I can’t keep living like this.”

KCTV5 attempted to reach apartment management Sunday, but did not hear back.

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