ALTOMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — David Fetherolf pointed to the large, sagging crack in his kitchen ceiling where water once poured into his unit.
He flicked a light switch. The bulb sputtered. He pointed to patterns in his living room ceiling that appeared to take the shape of water stains painted over.
“We tell them, ‘Hey, my ceiling’s leaking,’” Fetherolf said. “They’ve never showed up, never done anything… Finally the fire department came… and said, ‘Just use buckets.’”
Fetherolf took a bigger issue with what was happening next door: a unit that was in the process of being turned over. He flashed pictures of dark spots on the bathroom ceiling that he said were simply being painted over with anti-mold paint.
Most of his building, he said, were veterans with various health problems. He himself had COPD.
“It doesn’t take an engineer to figure out what black mold on the other side of the wall would do to somebody that can’t breathe,” he said.
Fetherolf said he wasn’t afraid to come forward as questions swirled about his landlord, Ty Lohman, and the two buildings across the street that engineers declared unsafe.
The tenants inside the two Altamonte Terrace buildings were ordered to leave after ceilings began collapsing and floors sagged. Engineers blamed the buildings’ 50-year-old roofs.
While he initially put the tenants up in hotel rooms, Lohman and his company terminated their leases as of Friday when it became apparent the buildings needed more extensive renovations than previously planned.
Many of the tenants say they were told to leave their belongings like furniture behind when they first evacuated.
More important to them, though, was the lack of answers. How did the buildings get to the state they were in? Why were they allowed to move in weeks or months before?
Records provided by the City of Altamonte Springs showed Lohman is facing more than a dozen Code Enforcement cases and upwards of $400,000 in fines for issues that stretch from fire suppressant systems to parking lot maintenance.
His attorneys claimed he’s spent nearly $1 million in repairs, accounting for shipping delays, tariffs and other cost overruns.
There’s more work to go: the plans his team submitted to repair the two damaged buildings were incomplete, meaning city staff couldn’t review them.
“It’s a terrible and tragic thing that’s happening these residents,” City Manager Frank Martz said. “What we can do are the things that the law allows us to do, and that is to perform code enforcement, to do to the inspections of those things that are observable.”
Observable doesn’t necessarily mean structural, Martz explained, making it more difficult to prevent a repeat of this issue in other cases.
He was asked if the fines were working.
“Fines don’t do it if you’re intent on not taking care of something being fined,” he admitted.
Local government leaders contacted by WFTV said the state should become more involved in holding landlords accountable, including setting up a portal to help direct complaints about apartment units to the correct agency like health or licensing.
Otherwise, tenants are largely left to fend for themselves and know who to contact. They could hire an attorney, but that costs money people living in so-called “last resort” housing cannot afford.
WFTV reached out to multiple Republican politicians who represent Central Florida to find out what is being done to give tenants more power in their relationship with landlords or at least provide more guidance to tenants who believe they’re in unsafe situations.
One representative said there was little interest outside of assisting people in mobile homes, condos and HOAs – three areas where Republican voters are more prevalent.
In text messages, State Senator Jason Brodeur said the law was already available to help tenants.
“What you’re asking the state to fix is already illegal,” he said. “This is not a law making issue, it’s a law enforcement issue… By law they are to receive proper housing and if not may terminate a legal contract. If landlords aren’t keeping up their end of the bargain, state law provides tenants with options.”
Representatives for Lohman explained Tuesday that terminating the leases of tenants who lived within the damaged buildings was in the tenants’ best interest.
“Management has waived rent, forgiven past-due balances, provided temporary hotel accommodations, and offered moving assistance—steps that go beyond what is required by law,” a spokeswoman wrote. “We remain committed to completing the necessary repairs and safely reopening the buildings as soon as possible.”
Without naming him, they said the leak in Fetherolf’s apartment was in the process of being fixed.
They did not address the potential mold, which contractor Eliot Grime, of VE Builders, said would require more than a coat of paint to remediate.
“It needs to be looked at by a third party air testing company,” he said. “Most likely needs to be cut out and treated, and the whole area treated and then retested for clean air.”
Fetherolf, who said he has done contracting work, agreed – but said he had few options.
“I’m either here or on a sidewalk, and I don’t know -- this place is going to put me under the sidewalk,” he said.
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