Mother of two shows conditions at Montgomery apartment, has lease terminated the next day

Cameisha Whetstone has two children ages 2 and 4 and has lived at Montgomery's Brentwood Estates apartment complex for three years. On Jan. 24, she walked through the apartments with a Montgomery Advertiser reporter and showed some of the issues that residents are facing, including flooding and a lack of heat.

Whetstone's apartment lease was terminated the next day.

Brentwood Estates Property Manager Robbin Crawford said she terminated the lease because Whetstone tried to fight her assistant. But Whetstone said the administration asked why she was working with a journalist then terminated the lease in retaliation.

Tenants brace against cold, flooding

A day earlier, Whetstone greeted neighbors as she walked through the complex and talked about problems the residents face. She pointed to a burst pipe spurting gallons of water through Brentwood and into multiple people's apartments. The water had been gushing from the pipe for days and caused residents to have low water pressure, she said.

Bernetta Harris lifted soaked towels inside her apartment to show where the water was seeping into a bedroom. Harris had been without heat in her apartment since Oct. 6, she said.

Whetstone recounted two weeks in November when she and her children lived in their apartment without heat. She bought space heaters to keep her kids warm. Whetstone said another neighbor was without heat when she brought her newborn baby home to her four other children.

There are cockroaches and mold inside her own apartment and the unit sometimes goes without water for multiple days, Whetstone said.

Fed up, Whetstone went to the Nov. 21 Montgomery City Council meeting with other neighbors seeking help. After that meeting, Whetstone said management sent out letters threatening to oust any tenant who talks to city officials.

Assistant Property Manager Ashley Gordon said the units are old and need many repairs. Gordon said residents do not report their issues and instead go above her head to city officials.

“We are definitely doing everything possible to make sure everything is done," Crawford said. "... We’re not slumlords, and we work hard to make sure everything is done for our residents."

Pending legal battle

The Brentwood Estates complex on Woodley Road is in City Councilman Oronde Mitchell's district. Mitchell said the city is preparing to take action against EEG Management, which owns three locations in Montgomery.

At last week's city council meeting, Mitchell asked the legal department to take any legal action that the city can. It would be the first time that the city has taken a property to court. Mitchell is also organizing a meeting among neighbors “to rally them together," he said.

Meanwhile, he's in conversation with legislators about amending laws concerning renters' rights.

“It’s frustrating for those tenants, but we are doing everything we can," Mitchell said.

The Montgomery Advertiser returned to Brentwood on Monday to seek comment about the termination of Whetstone's lease. Two men, including a maintenance worker who had been interviewed earlier, went inside the leasing office, locked the door and twisted the blinds shut.

After being told that the reporter could see them through the blinds, four people spilled out.

Crawford approached and said that Whetstone's lease was terminated after she threatened a physical confrontation. As the reporter left, another Brentwood worker called after her, "Report that we prosecute to the fullest extent of the law."

Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser's public safety reporter. She can be reached at agladden@gannett.com or on Twitter @gladlyalex.

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This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Tenants report deplorable conditions at Montgomery's Brentwood Estates