Out in the cold
Brookside Manor residents deal with weeklong gas leak repairs; apartment owners say needed repairs have been delayed by rain
Residents of the Brookside Manor community in Hatfield Township have spent much of the past week out of their apartments, and community owner Morgan Properties says it is working as quickly as possible to fix the situation.
“We have been working diligently to restore service for all of our residents,” Morgan Properties said in a statement.
“We understand that it’s an inconvenience for our residents to be without gas for a week, and want to thank everyone for their patience and understanding as we work to get this resolved,” the statement said.
The issue started Saturday, March 25, around 9 p.m., according to several residents who asked
not to be identified due to fears they could be evicted and who said they were told the gas leak had occurred and that, while they would not have to leave their apartments, repairs could run through this weekend.
As of Thursday afternoon, Beechan said, “we do not know what caused the gas leak,” which was reported by a resident.
As of Friday afternoon, no additional information was available about the cause of the leak or the total number of residents affected.
Residents who contacted The Reporter said they had smelled and reported other gas leaks around December 2016 and January 2017; Beechan said, “We have no reported incidents of gas leaks during this time at our community.”
“I’ve been living here for five years, paying all the bills on time, on a monthly basis, and to get this kind of treatment is just crossing the line,” said a resident named Jeremy, who declined to give his last name.
Jeremy said Friday he’s been staying with family for the week but typically works night shifts and sleeps during the day, which would be impossible to do in his apartment while the gas lines are being repaired — which he’s heard could take as long as another week to 10 days.
“It’s basically a mess. It’s a health and safety issue for every single individual — not just me, but for the whole community,” he said.
Other residents who contacted The Reporter said they have stayed in, using space heaters to keep their temperatures in the low 60-degree range and ordering takeout food as much as possible while they can’t cook.
“I was really excited to move here. I was looking forward to making my home here ... as long as I feel safe. And with this go-
ing on, I don’t,” said a resident who asked not to be identified.
Another resident, who asked to be identified only as Tina, said she is looking into legal action to recover the costs she has incurred this week while unable to live in the apartment they have paid rent for.
“As a paying tenant, I shouldn’t have to be subjected to substandard living conditions, and I should have my rent bill as well as my utility bill adjusted because of this gas leak, and the effect it has caused on my living conditions,” she said.
Resident Ama Day said she and her family had lived there since 2014, but had to keep their two young children out well past their regular bedtime to bathe in another apartment this week.
“The only reason why we’re still here is because we’re working on our credit to move into a house. The minute that happens, we are out of here so fast — we are not staying here,” Day said.
Residents say they’ve lost their heat, hot water and stove service, and several of those affected said they have had to find petfriendly accommodations for the week they’ve been unable to stay in their apartments. On a visit to the complex Thursday, contractors could be seen working to install new pipelines at several locations, with tire treads and spray painted lines running through the grass next to several different townhouse and apartment buildings.
In a statement provided
to The Reporter, Morgan Properties said gas had been restored to three buildings at the community as of Thursday afternoon, and the company estimated new gas lines would be fully installed by Sunday, April 2.
On Friday, residents said they were notified by the company that due to heavy rains, the repairs may take longer than planned and gas may not be restored until early next week.
Morgan Properties said Friday afternoon that the heavy rains delayed welding of pipes but other work would be done Friday so repairs could continue Saturday.
The company said in its statement it has provided space heaters to residents, identified discounted rates at local hotels, arranged for a discount at nearby Giuseppe’s Pizza for affected residents and provided free use of showers in other apartments owned by the company locally, along with arrangements for residents to shower at the Lansdale branch of the North Penn YMCA.
“We have been keeping our residents informed consistently through our Resident Portal Software email system. To date, we’ve sent multiple communications daily in an effort to keep residents informed on what is happening at the community, and to provide alternative solutions to our residents during this time of inconvenience,” said Morgan Properties in the statement.
But the residents affected are asking for more: at the very least, some sort
of compensation or reimbursement for expenses they’ve incurred since losing their gas service. One resident said they had ordered a $60 package of food for the week from a delivery service that couldn’t be cooked without an oven and said they were running a crockpot and coffee pots all day to heat enough water for washing.
“I would not be as passionate or outspoken about this if some type of compensation was being done, or at least a reimbursement, or discount on rent, because we’re incurring additional costs,” said another resident.
“Because of this, we can’t cook, we have to go outside to shower, and I’ve felt unsafe because of the drilling and the gas leak,” she said.
Morgan Properties Area Vice President Christine Beechan said, “While there has been no mandatory displacement or relocation of residents, we appreciate and respect questions in regards to compensation.
“At this time, our focus is solely on completing the necessary repairs to restore the gas service. Suggestions and requests will be taken into consideration after the gas service is restored,” she said.
Two local attorneys said they’ve heard of similar cases where landlords have had problems with rental units, and tenants may have a case a judge would agree with.
“Most residential leases, if they cannot provide the
property, they have to give them a rent rebate for the time they’re out of possession,” said attorney Greg Gifford of Colmar.
“In most of the leases that I’ve seen, the landlord must provide the appropriate things, such as water, such as heat, and if they cannot provide them, the tenant is always permitted to place their rent money into escrow until it’s resolved,” he said.
Tenants can divide their monthly rent by the number of days in the month to determine a per day cost, then set aside that amount for each day they are unable to live there. If the landlord does not provide some sort of solution, the tenants could go to one attorney and file a joint action, “and most likely win,” according to Gifford.
“The landlords will usually always do the right thing,” he said.
Attorney Noah Gladstone of Warminster said he has handled la nd lord-t enant cases in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Lehigh and Northampton counties and has been contacted by Brookside tenants since their situation started.
“It is a terrible situation. To have the management insisting that all of these residents pay the entirety of their rent, when they don’t have apartments that are habitable — no heat, no cooking, no hot water — it’s ridiculous that you’d insist on full payment of rent under those conditions,” he said.
The typical landlord-tenant case Gladstone has seen lasts a much shorter length of time and may only affect a unit or two or perhaps a building, but “an entire complex being out for this length of time is unusual.”
“It gets cold at night, and they have no heat, they have no hot water, and you can’t cook with gas stoves, so that’s not really a condition anybody would want to live under,” he said.
“Any of these nights, if it gets cold again, below freezing, they’re at risk for pipes freezing, and then they’re at risk of losing water, too. Certainly, to force them to pay full rent for a time period where the complex didn’t live up to their end of the deal and provide a fully habitable apartment, it just isn’t fair,” Gladstone said.
Township and PECO officials said they’ve been on the site trying to help since last Saturday, but there is little they can do because the gas leak is located on Brookside’s property, which is responsibility of Morgan
Properties.
“We had a technician respond, and we identified that there was an issue on Brookside Manor’s own fuel line — the customer’s line, not a PECO main, not a PECO natural gas line,” said PECO spokesman Ben Armstrong.
“Due to the nature of the issue and the safety concern and per state regulations, we’re required to interrupt natural gas service to that complex until they are able to complete repairs,” he said.
PECO’s natural gas flow runs through a single master meter for the entire complex, so no other properties have been affected by the shutoff, and Armstrong said PECO suggested several contractors to Morgan Properties for the company to use to make the repairs.
“Anything after the meter is the responsibly of the customer, and this is on the other side. We are standing by for the call. We would introduce natural gas service immediately, as soon as they’ve completed their repairs. We will be there, on site, when they are ready,” he said.
Tow nsh ip Ma nager Aaron Bibro said he and township staff were notified by PECO of the problem last Saturday and have been on duty ever since.
“Our entire code department has been working with the property owner and PECO since the moment the township has been notified of the issue at the property on Saturday,” Bibro said.
“We cannot dictate how quickly this repair takes place, but we will be there at all times when work is being done to make sure that everything is code-compliant and safe,” he said.
Residents have contacted the township asking if it can take any action, but in the absence of a property maintenance code authorizing some sort of regular inspections on the property outside of the township’s normal permit process, there’s little the township can do.
“We will have employees working there through the weekend to make sure that at any point we are not slowing this process down,” he said.
“It’s never good to hear that Hatfield Township residents are in a situation like this. We will do everything the township can to make sure it’s a smooth process for the property owner, but we do not make the repairs. We do not maintain infrastructure on private property,” Bibro said.