MESA, Ariz. — During a record-breaking Arizona summer, many endure the heat with no air conditioning. That includes some residents living at the Sonoran Palms Apartments off of Country Club Drive and Rio Salado Parkway in Mesa.
"It’s been hell living here," said Christopher Houston.
Houston said it's been going on since the end of June. His apartment was about 87 degrees Thursday afternoon.
“You can see how much I’m sweating in here,” Houston said.
Water appeared to be leaking from his AC system. Despite several calls to management to fix the problem, Houston said he's only received a portable chilling system that only cools part of one room.
“This apartment for me, personally, is uninhabitable and I’ve been having to stay with my girlfriend, my brother or other people,” he said.
Other apartments 12News inspected were also around 87 degrees. Catherine Ockerman's apartment was at 78 degrees even though she had the thermostat set to 65 degrees.
“The other night when the AC went out I had to sleep with a wet washcloth on," Ockerman said.
12News reached out to the leasing office for comment on the situation. Kerri McIntire with Apartment Management Consultants LLC provided a statement and confirmed some apartments experienced this problem. She also wrote that while they are working to fix the issue, some repairs are delayed due to lack of necessary parts:
The health and well-being of our community members is extremely important to Sonoran Palms and we are fully aware of the current issue that a small portion of our residents are having with the Chiller system on property. Sonoran Palms is currently doing everything within its power to address this situation in order to restore fully functioning Chiller system as quickly as possible. Sonoran Palms understands how difficult the Arizona heat can be and has made and will continue to make portable cooling units available to residents on an as-needed basis while the necessary repairs are being made on the Chiller system. Unfortunately, some repairs have been delayed due to the availability of the necessary parts but Sonoran Palms is doing everything in its power to fix the issue quickly.
All residents that have any concerns regarding the Chiller system in their unit should reach out immediately to the Community Manager or other staff members so that their issues can be addressed as quickly as possible.
Houston said he is done waiting.
"This is ridiculous," he said. “We’ve already contacted an attorney.”
Then on Friday afternoon, McIntire sent an update to 12News that wrote the chiller system at the apartment complex has been repaired and is fully functional. 12News has reached out to tenants at the complex to see if that is indeed the case, but has yet to hear back.
12News also reached out to the City of Mesa regarding this situation and received the following statement:
We understand this is a challenging situation for the residents, especially given the high temperatures of our Arizona summers. Arizona law requires landlords to provide rental units with working appliances and access to essential services such as electricity, hot water, and air conditioning. We encourage tenants to report issues to the Arizona Department of Housing and the Arizona Multihousing Association.
“While facilitating a solution to the tenants is out of the purview of the City of Mesa, we provide resources for renters on our website. We also remind our community that Mesa and our non-profit partners offer various programs to help residents keep cool during the summer months. This information is available by visiting mesaaz.gov/summerhelp.
Attorney General Kris Mayes recently filed a lawsuit against a Phoenix apartment complex for also not providing working air conditioning to about 400 apartment units.
A spokesperson for her office said any victim or consumer fraud or if a tenant's landlord is not fulfilling legal obligations should file a complaint with their office at www.azag.gov/consumer.
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