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YOU ASK. WE INVESTIGATE. Sewage creates mess at apartment complex

Posted at 11:27 PM, Jan 30, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-31 02:27:05-05

People at one Las Vegas apartment complex had a really nasty mess they say only got cleaned up after 13 Action News showed up.

There was sewage running through the common area of their apartment complex near North Jones Boulevard and U.S. 95.

The mess at the Orland Apartments smelled as bad as it looked. People who live there say the stench was coming into their units.

"The gases that are in these pipes are backing up into the apartment, and now we have a strong stench of human gas smells," said John Crowley, who first called 13 Action News about the sewage flowing onto common areas at his complex.

"Right as you walk out of your car, because we have to park in the rear, and we come through this gate, we're confronted with human feces. We gotta cross over, we gotta step through toilet water. I don't know if it's contaminated or not, but I just don't want to take that risk."

Crowley is not the only one who was upset about the mess, and who said this wasn't the first time raw sewage has spilled out onto the pavement.

"It's been going on for a while," said Robert Dieringer, another man who lives at Orland Apartments. "They do take care of it, but the problem just keeps happening and happening and it just doesn't change at all."

The Southern Nevada Health District said if no one cleans it up, the property owner can face a penalty. People who live here say they cleaned it up right after 13 Action News showed up Sunday night.

13 Action News went to the leasing office to see if they have a plan to fix things for good but they told us we had to call corporate. We did not hear back from corporate before our deadline.

But folks at the Civil Law Self Help Center say if there is something in the lease about the landlord maintaining common areas, this kind of situation could mean the landlord is failing to comply with the lease.