No Hot Water: A Problem at a North Palm Springs Condo Building Sheds Light on a Lack of Protections for Residents

The Palm Springs Villas 2 condominium complex is tucked away just east of Palm Canyon Drive in northern Palm Springs, along the north side of San Rafael Drive. Sitting at 701 N. Los Felices Circle West is Building L, part of a community with a relaxed vibe, at least at this time of year. It’s home to a number of senior residents, some of whom are disabled.

On May 16, the hot water stopped flowing through the pipes in Building L. What happened next—and what didn’t happen—illustrate how ill-prepared the system is to deal with disputes between residents and condo managers when something goes wrong.

Michael Nix is a disabled senior citizen who resides in a Building L condominium unit he owns. He is a retired sommelier who also worked in the entertainment industry and as a public-relations executive earlier in his career. Nix happens to keep a detailed daily journal.

“The hot water stopped running in my condo building on May 16,” Nix told the Independent. “I know that on the 17th, one of my neighbors contacted Seabreeze Management, specifically (the manager) of this particular complex. My neighbor who reported the issue on the 17th said that she was not being listened to.”

The neighbor asked Nix to also reach out to the manager, and he did so on the 18th.

“I have all the particulars (of that outreach),” Nix said. “(She) called me back and acted as though she did not know about the problem. She said that she would contact maintenance personnel. It was a contentious phone call with her. She became a little bit combative with me that day, which was rather surprising. Anyway, a plumber showed up and verified that we had the problem.”

While the problem had been verified, it did not get fixed. Days went by, which turned into weeks.

“Our frustration began to grow due to the lack of information,” Nix said.

As time went on, residents started reaching out to various government agencies for help. Nix said he contacted Palm Springs Code Compliance on June 8.

“I got a return call from Dustin Wade,” a code-compliance officer, Nix said. “He said he had been in touch with our property manager.”

Nix said Wade was under the impression based on his conversation with the property manager that the hot water had only been out for 10 days. It had actually been 24.

A construction company finally arrived and began re-piping units in Building L on June 15 and 16. The process involved cutting holes in the walls and ceilings of kitchens and bathrooms to access the pipes. By the end of Friday, June 16, hot water was running again for the first time in a month—but the holes remained, covered only by rectangles of plastic and masking tape.

The Independent first heard about this mess on June 11, when another media outlet forwarded us a voicemail from another tenant. The woman—who asked not to be named, due to fears of retaliation—told us that she and other disabled adult tenants were being impacted by this failure to provide hot running water, and that it was seriously endangering her health. She said ailments including Crohn’s disease required her to have 24/7 access to hot water for cleanliness, and she’d been forced to pay for a room at a local hotel out of her own pocket—for eight days.

We were curious what residents in these types of situations can do. We emailed Riverside County Adult Protective Services (APS) to ask if the agency was aware of what was happening at Palm Springs Villas 2. We received a response from public information specialist Gene Kennedy, who said APS representatives could not discuss any incident with parties not directly involved in a case. He said anyone who felt their rights were being abused should call the APS hotline at 800-491-7123.

Next, we reached out to the Palm Springs Code Compliance Department on June 15. On June 20, an email response came from Amy Blaisdell, the city communications director, which stated: “In regards to your email, I am told the contractor is currently working on fixing and replacing the hot water pipes and equipment. These are condos that are owned individually, but are managed by Seabreeze Management. When Code Enforcement returned to check progress last week, they found plumbers actively working on the property.”

In a follow-up email, we asked Blaisdell if Palm Springs Code Compliance would or could make a determination on whether property management and the homeowners’ association handled the matter appropriately. Blaisdell replied, in part: “Fundamentally, this is a private party dispute between the (condo unit) owners and the condo association. The owners have the option to choose civil remedies, if necessary.”

On June 20, the Independent reached out to the management company to ask why it took so long for repairs to get made. The property manager for Palm Springs Villas 2 complex, who is employed Seabreeze Management, called us back, and said we should not be doing a story, since repairs were close to completion. She said her company’s policies prohibited her from speaking to the media, and that “her boss” would be in touch. (For this reason, we are not including her name in this piece.)

She later called back and said the residents had no reason to reach out to the media. “I can’t believe you fell for this,” she said.

The next day, we received an email from attorney Daniel Parlow, of the Tinnelly Law Group. His email stated, in part, “(Y)our inquiry involves a nearly resolved situation and appears to be based on some outdated and incorrect information. The (Palm Springs Villas 2 Homeowners) Association is responsible for the decisions through its Board of Directors. Therefore, please keep Seabreeze out of your article and substitute the Association in place of Seabreeze.”

We replied and asked what the “outdated and incorrect information” was. He responded that the incorrect information involved a “release document” condo owners received saying they would be responsible for the cost of drywall repairs and painting, and that actually, the HOA would hire a vendor to do the repairs at no cost to the homeowners.

That was welcome news to the impacted residents who, as of June 19, said they had not received a firm answer regarding who was responsible for paying for the repairs.

Attorney Megan Beaman-Jacinto heads up Beaman Jacinto Law PC. The Independent contacted her to ask whether or not the impacted residents have any legal recourse. She said they may—if they are renting.

“The law requires landlords to provide habitable rental units,” Beaman-Jacinto explained via email. “The units must be habitable at the time they are rented, and the landlord must repair any issues that impair the habitability during the course of the tenancy.”

She went on to point out: “A rental unit may be considered uninhabitable if it lacks certain specific guarantees of habitability, and one of those is hot and cold running water. … A landlord who fails to immediately repair serious habitability violations like this one can be held liable in civil court for damages caused to the impacted tenants; in other words, tenants can sue their landlord for money based on the costs and/or harm they have experienced as a result of the failure to keep the unit habitable. This option exists even if they are still living in the unit.”

As the disabled senior female resident of Palm Springs Villas 2 told the Independent: “It’s not fair to treat senior disabled people this way. I hope this will open everyone’s eyes to the abuse of elderly and medically challenged people.”