COLUMBIA, S.C. — Senior residents at Christopher Towers in Five Points faced sweltering conditions on Tuesday as the building's air conditioning system stopped working.
"I got up and couldn’t even sleep because it was so hot," said David Cooper, who lives in Christopher Towers.
"I had our thermostat set at 67 degrees. It was 80 and got up to 87 yesterday," Sharon Cooper added.
News19 contacted the property management group Multifamily Select Inc., which stated it is providing free hotel rooms to residents with help from Sejwad Hospitality. Sejwad Hospitality has provided them with three hotels to house 70 residents, including the Coopers.
"The entire building is on the same system, so yes, we do have some units that have some cooling, but the vast majority of the building is affected by this," said Matthew Neely, Vice President of Multifamily Select Inc.
Neely said that they aim to have the air conditioning back on by Wednesday but acknowledged delays due to the specialized nature of the cooling systems. News19 called Christopher Towers on Thursday but didn't receive an update.
"We’re hoping the plan that the one vendor has suggested can be up and running tomorrow, but we just don’t have a time yet on when that will happen," Neely added.
"One is that typically like we've heard at Christopher Towers heating and air conditioning are in full HVAC units. What that means is if one of those units is in disrepair, it is obviously the landlord's responsibility to fix that. In the case of Christopher Towers, that's the whole building they are responsible for that," Emily Blackshire-Giel with Appleseed Legal Justice Center said. "It does sound like they are already taking action. Typically, if landlords are not taking action to remedy a situation, we point tenants towards what's called the 14-day letter. That 14-day letter, basically a letter under South Carolina law, is appropriate to give to your landlord to kinda demand they make to certain repair if it’s impacting health and safety."
"It’s hot, and I am concerned, but I don’t think they are doing enough," David Cooper added.
The property management group hopes to have the issue resolved by Wednesday.
If you find yourself in a situation with air conditioning, Appleseed provides details on how to right a "14 day letter" to a landlord detailing serious issues in need of repair.