As snow blanketed Louisville in mid-January, a city inspector checked the temperature inside the bedroom of a 3rd Street apartment — a jarring 48 degrees.
The inspector was there to follow up on a complaint about burst pipes and no heat, according to records obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.
At the time, a frigid cold spell engulfed the region. In Louisville, temperatures dipped to near 3 degrees.
State law requires that rental properties be equipped with working heat and hot water between October and May to ensure renters have safe places to live in the harsh winter months. But that doesn’t always happen.
Between Jan. 11 and Jan. 17 — the coldest week of the season, so far — Louisville Metro property inspectors received 30 complaints about frozen pipes, no heat, leaks, drafty windows and a furnace on the fritz, according to a KyCIR review of property maintenance case files.
The files and online records show inspectors cited at least 11 property owners for heat-related violations — busted furnaces, frozen pipes, low temperatures. Inspectors cited six other properties for non heat-related violations — cracked ceilings, low water pressure, busted windows and more. In the other 13 cases inspectors found no violations, could not access the property or the issue had been resolved before the inspector arrived, the records show.