A Palatka woman says she's been without water for a month after a plumber was sent to her home to fix her piping issues. Now, she said she's hitting dead ends with the city and her landlord.
Katie Pitts said her husband dug a trench in their yard because when they did have running water, it would flood their front yard. The trench was a way to help water flow out to the street.
Pitts says she thought that her problems were fixed a few weeks ago, but they restarted after a plumber fixed pipe issues in the backyard before Christmas.
“He sent someone out to fix the water, but it busted in the front yard in two days," she said. "I let him know the water busted…He’s texting me, telling me I had this guy he was supposed to send out, he was going to do it Tuesday or Wednesday. Tuesday and Wednesday come, nobody showed up."
Pitts brought her complaints to First Coast News two weeks ago.
“It makes me feel low,” Pitts explained. “It’s embarrassing to go to neighbors and ask for water."
With no answer from the city or her landlord, Pitts says she has run out of options.
For any tenant, there is a legal route: They are protected by Florida state statute 83.51. It states, “If the plumbing isn’t working properly…a tenant must notify the landlord in hand delivery or writing of the non-compliant compliance of the provisions in the rental agreement that the landlord has failed to do,” Sharon Copeland said.
Copeland is a Florida registered paralegal with the Copeland law firm. She says if tenants write that letter, landlords have seven days to respond.
Copeland says the state health department can get involved since the landlord hasn’t made the repairs.
Pitts said she doesn’t want to leave her home. She’s simply asking for the landlord to make her house livable.
“It’s putting a hurt on me, me and my family are living without water," she said. "We can’t eat or do what we’re supposed to do in this house."
The landlord hasn’t returned phone calls to First Coast News.
City workers tell us they wouldn’t comment until their city manager returns to town.