OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — An Oklahoma City woman says her brand-new apartment at ‘The Gates Apartments’ is infested with mold, but instead of fixing the problem, her landlord denied it and threatened to evict her when she complained.Katy Ballard and her 12-year-old son moved into a new unit at The Gates Apartments on NW 122nd Street at the end of May, becoming the first tenants to live there.She said it didn’t take long before she noticed major problems.“The floorboards, these were completely filled with water,” Ballard said while showing News 4 apparent mold damage in the apartment on Tuesday. “This whole entire door is water-damaged.”She said leaking water heaters installed throughout the complex caused the damage.
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“That is all from the hot water tanks,” Ballard said, while showing News 4 mold growing on a portion of her ceiling beneath her upstairs neighbor’s water tank.Next to her own water tank, she showed News 4 mold spreading across the wall.When she raised her concerns with property managers, Ballard said they denied what she was seeing.“This isn’t that bad,” one property manager told her in July, according to security video Ballard shared with News 4.In the same July visit, the manager added, “There’s nothing up there.”“That is mold,” Ballard said.“No, that’s the paint,” the manager responded.Ballard sent repeated maintenance requests, emails, and texts.She said she rarely got a response, and when she did, property managers downplayed the problem.In the same July visit, the manager said, “That’s just paint.”“All right here—that’s paint?” Ballard asked.“Those are repaired, yes,” the manager replied.Ballard tested wall samples herself, and says the results confirmed it was mold.But she said managers still refused to acknowledge it.In that same July video, the manager said, “That’s not mold.”“Okay, what’s that?” Ballard asked.“That’s not mold either,” the manager replied.Ballard said she asked for a different unit.In the same July visit, video shows the manager saying, “I’m not transferring you. This isn’t that bad.”She said the issues go beyond mold.She doesn’t have a working mailbox, forcing her to send mail to a relative out of town.Her electronic door lock keypad has never worked.In a separate video recorded on a different day, another property manager said, “It’s literally a convenience, it’s not even a necessity. You have a key; you can get in and out of your apartment.”Ballard said managers originally promised her two months of free rent.She said that after she began complaining, they sent her a letter demanding rent and threatening to evict her.She said her exact unit is even listed for rent again on the complex’s website.News 4 reached out to the complex’s management company, Express Management Inc.A property manager emailed back, denying they threatened eviction and said:
“As with any new construction projects, there are bound to be some unforeseen challenges. We are working closely with our tenants to address any issues as they come up and resolve them as quickly as possible.”
That same manager appeared in a separate video recorded on another day, saying, “It’s not our job!” when Ballard asked why they hadn’t conducted a move-in day walk-through.We tried calling her, but got sent to voicemail.Later, she emailed News 4 again, claiming the water heater leak “had been resolved” and that drywall repairs were scheduled for next week.She also claimed managers had been trying to help Ballard, but that she “has not been very cooperative.”Ballard said she feels abandoned.“It’s just dread, just straight up disappointment,” she said. “We’re all just so heartbroken because we thought we could move in here. It was clean, new, maintained. And maintenance won’t fix anything, and they’ve done nothing.”…