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YOU ASK. WE INVESTIGATE. Apartment residents say no hot water for 3 months

Posted at 6:00 PM, Nov 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-22 21:17:20-05
Folks at one apartment complex say they have been without hot water for about three months.
 
"I mean it's pretty hard to take a bath with a pot of hot water, which is what we've had to do because there's no choice," said Lavonne Starling, whose daughter called us when she found out about her mom's problem.
 
Starling is bathing with water heated on the stove because she says she hasn't had hot water since August.
 
"I think we've had two, maybe three days of water hot enough to take a bath and after that, she just keeps giving us one excuse after the other," Starling said of the property manager at Veterans Village 2. 
 
"It hasn't been repaired. Not once."
 
Starling said it all started when a new company took over her complex.
 
"To not get the service, it makes you feel very much like I don't want to pay rent," said Starling.
 
If she's telling the truth, she doesn't have to. Hot water is considered an essential service in Nevada. If you don't have hot water, here's what the Civil Law Self-HelpCenter Recommends:
 
-Find out if your problem is essential or nonessential.
 
-If it's essential, send your landlord a letter over certified mail saying if they don't fix the issue in 14 days, you will withhold rent.
 
-Wait those 14 days and see if they make repairs
 
-If they don't, you can start withholding rent.
 
13 Action News called Arnold Stalk, the founder of Veterans Village. 
 
He told us he got a new water heater Tuesday morning for the two affected buildings.
 
He promised us it would be up and running the same day. We'll let you know what happens.