WACO, Texas — Residents at Sunrise Pointe Apartments are going on two weeks without hot water or the ability to cook food.
25 News reporter Dominique Leh has been asking the complex when residents will get to take a hot shower, but they haven’t been able to say a thing.
The city said the complex hired a new plumber to make the gas leak repairs, but there are still six buildings without gas.
SEE MORE: 'I don't know how I'm going to eat': Residents left without gas at Sunrise Pointe Apartments
“I feel as if I’m homeless in a home,” one resident Sharonise Hardin-Whities.
A home with no hot water, no heat and no way to cook. Tenants at Sunrise Pointe apartments are going on 15 days and counting without gas.
25 News' Dominique Leh asked residents if they thought the problem would last this long.
“No, no, I absolutely did not. I thought that it would be probably the next day is what I anticipated.”
The last time we met with Sharonise Hardin-Whities she told 25 News she had to eat beans out of a can. Now one week later, and two weeks without gas, she wants out of her lease.
“I just want to leave, I want to leave. I want to get my life back on track and go to work and give 100% attention to my job.”
Dominique Leh met with attorney Jessica Treviño to get some answers.
“Landlords are liable to tenants and they have to provide them a place where their health and their safety is not affected,” Treviño said.
The Texas Attorney General Renters Rights lists out what is considered to affect health and safety: no hot water and a lack of heat.
However, it also states the landlord has a “reasonable amount of time” to make repairs.
“Unfortunately, of course, the law is not saying, 'oh they have you know, you can live five days without hot water,' it’s very vague. We’re looking for reasonable, right?" said Treviño. "So if you can make the argument that this is not reasonable anymore that’s when a claim could probably be made."
Treviño told 25 News renters should always pay rent. If you stop, you run the risk of possible eviction. But for Sharonise it’s much easier said than done.
“I just feel like I’m not a human. I feel like even the animals at the animal shelter get baths and can have, you know, regular meals. They have someone to care for them,” Sharonise said.
