MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Senior Myrtle Morgan claimed she’s been living without heat in her senior living apartment for four years.
While the corporate office for the property at 460 S Lauderdale doesn’t deny the problem of her unit not having heat, the office said the issue has not been ongoing for four years.
Regardless, Morgan has been without heat for some time, even braving January’s winter storm in the cold.
She’s contacted her property manager and Memphis Shelby County Code Enforcement several times.
Morgan said she hasn’t heard from anyone from her property regularly about the issue.
“We had the snow, and I haven’t heard anymore from him about it until this morning,” Morgan said.
For a short-term solution, management provided her with a space heater, but that brought more issues.
“It was melting in the socket from the plug in the wall,” Morgan said. “I have since purchased a space heater on my own, and I’m using that. I use my oven as well to try to keep warm in here.”
She has also put three curtains on her bedroom window to conserve as much heat as possible.
“Around my windowsill, in the bedroom - it's air coming in there as well,” Morgan said. “[Someone] said that they were going to fix that too. It was just coming in there. It looks like the window that’s in there is too small for the casing.”
Code Enforcement went out to her unit on Tuesday afternoon after we also reached out. They then issued the property a notice of violation, giving them 48 hours to correct the issue.
The property began notifying her of updates after we reached out to the corporate office. They sent out the following statement, which refers to the length of time without heat as three years, but Morgan later clarified it was four years:
“I am working on getting some answers from the property management team. At the very least, a new heating unit should be installed tomorrow, but I am waiting for details about the situation. The initial information I’ve received is that the length of time there has been an issue is not three years and that a temporary heat source is in place.”
Code Enforcement will go back to Morgan’s unit on Friday, Feb. 23. If a permanent heating solution has not been made, they will cite the property to environmental court.
If you’re dealing with a similar issue, you can reach out to Memphis Shelby County Code Enforcement online to file a complaint.