Madison Ave Apartments in Lansdale.
Tenants at Madison Ave Apartments at Fifth & Walnut streets in Lansdale are now going on three weeks without hot water for bathing, showering and doing dishes, and Lansdale code officials expect the issue to be finally resolved by the end of the week.
“This is my last-ditch effort, trying to get something done about it,” said one tenant who requested anonymity. “I haven’t had hot water in my apartment for 21 days. The leasing office did not get back to me on July 17, and I started calling July 8.”
The tenant, who pays $1,400 a month for a 400-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment, said she was told by property owner DMC Property Management, of Trooper, which owns 30 apartment complexes in Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties, that the issue would be fixed on July 17.
“Then, for the next couple of days, they were fixing it today, then fixing it today, then fixing it today,” she said. “Over the weekend, an email said it would be another one to three business days because they are waiting on parts.”
In photographs provided to North Penn Now, the tenant told management via online submission on July 17 at 5:51 a.m. that it is the third time there was no hot water in the complex, since she moved in in May 2023.
“I went without hot water in May for three weeks. They never called me back,” the tenant said. “I left voicemails, and then I went on vacation, and when I got back, all of a sudden I had hot water again.”
On July 17, at 11:04 a.m., DMC Property Management created a maintenance request for unit-wide water heater issues. Then, the next day, the maintenance request was cancelled at 11:58 a.m., according to photographs of correspondence between the tenant and management.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by the current hot water outage in our building. Our maintenance team, along with the expertise of our 3rd party HVAC services, were able to mae some positive steps forward today, identifying the root cause of the problem,” stated an email from DMC Property Management to tenants. “Emergency parts have been ordered and expedited, with an ETA of 1-2 business days. Upon receipt, the new parts will be installed immediately, restoring the hot water service back to the property.”
Madison Ave Apartments lease states that it is the landlord’s responsibility to “keep in good repair and working order the electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, air conditioning, and all other services.” Per the state Landlord-Tenant law, landlords must “adhere to the warranty of habitability which is included in every lease to make sure the property is safe to live in,” which is usually 24 hours.
On Friday, DMC Property Management informed tenants that emergency parts to finalize the hot water repairs were scheduled to arrive Monday.
“We have received confirmation from multiple HVAC experts that the new equipment will allow us to fire up the hot water tank and restore the service,” stated the email.
On Tuesday, management told tenants it apologized for the delay in resolving the matter.
“Please know that our team is working diligently to expedite the process and restore the hot water service as quickly as possible,” stated the email. “Parts are expected to ship out this week and then work can begin to restore the hot water.”
A representative of DMC Property Management confirmed there was a hot water issue at the Lansdale apartment complex and a message was left for a property manager to return a call, following a Tuesday afternoon meeting on the matter. Calls were not returned by deadline and a second call to the property management went to voicemail Tuesday afternoon.
“The woman I talked to at the company said, ‘You’re not the only one who’s called us.’ She said it was a property-wide problem,” the tenant said. “Our washers and dryers did not work for two months, too.”
She said calls to Montgomery County Housing Authority were fruitless. Lansdale Borough Police’s non-emergency line recommended the tenant to file with District Court 38-1-28.
Lansdale’s Code Enforcement Department expected the issue to be resolved as soon as Wednesday.
The anonymous tenant shared an email with North Penn Now from Lansdale's code enforcement division, in which property management informed borough codes that parts are coming from out of state and allegedly being delivered by 1 p.m. Wednesday, with installation to follow immediately.
Lansdale Director of Community Development Jason Van Dame said the borough codes department is working with the property management company to settle the issue.
Van Dame did not want to expand upon violations of borough code related to this matter, as it involves a private property owner.
“Our property inspectors are handling it, and property management is in communication with them,” Van Dame said.
The anonymous tenant said she was told that the management company can be fined every day there is no working hot water, and, in the worst case scenario, the apartment would be deemed uninhabitable and tenants would be evicted from the apartments should no hot water heater be replaced at Madison Ave Apartments.
The property itself is owned by Madison Avenue Apartments Owner LLC, of 29 S. Trooper Road, Trooper, according to Montgomery County property records, who acquired the property in March 2022 in a $1 transfer of ownership from Deni Realty LLC.
The tenant told North Penn Now she would love not showering cold water anymore and is down to her last bit of clean laundry. She said working six days a week, often with double shifts, does not leave a lot of free time.
