COLUMBUS, Ohio — Several tenants who live at the Sandridge Apartments complex in northeast Columbus went to the Columbus City Council meeting Monday night in the hopes of getting some assistance.
Earlier this month, they say they were notified by the new owners of their apartment complex, Easton Townhomes LLC, to vacate the property within 60 days.
"The owner who was there before had a heart for her tenants. These people have a heart for their bank account,” James Drinks, a tenant who lives there, said.
Drinks said he’s lived at this apartment complex for the last 14 years, and now he’s frustrated. On April 1, tenants received a letter notifying them the complex was under new ownership. Several days later, they received a letter telling them they needed to leave.
"We're backstabbed because we should've been told that it was gonna be that drastic,” Drinks said.
The letter each tenant received stated they needed to be out by June 7. Tenants believe the reason is so that the new owners can renovate the complex and raise costs for rent. Drinks said he and most of his neighbors feel they should’ve been given more time to make arrangements.
"We understand and realize that we gotta move, our rent's probably gonna go up wherever we move to. We accept that, but we want it to be done humanely,” Drinks said.
Many of the tenants who live at the complex said they’re paying around $500-$600 a month in rent. The owners did give tenants the option to apply to rent the apartments they own across the street, but at a much higher cost.
"I'm paying $515 a month and they want us to pay over a thousand dollars a month for their apartment over there,” Jackie Howell, another tenant at the complex, said.
For tenants like Howell, paying double what she’s paying now isn’t an option.
"It's like, what do you do in a situation like this? Guess you have to leave,” Howell said.
Drinks said he was able to negotiate an additional 30 days with the new leasing office, but it's still not enough time. Which is why he said he’s calling on the Columbus City Council for a cease and desist of the 90-day notice "to give us time to get organized and a longer period for us to stay there,” Drinks said.
10TV reached out to the new leasing office, Easton Townhomes LLC, for comment but did not hear back.