Indianapolis, attorney general sue apartment complexes for unpaid water bills
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The city of Indianapolis and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office have filed lawsuits against the owners of local apartment complexes after they failed to pay their water bills for several months.
The city’s lawsuit names JPC Affordable Housing Foundation, Inc., the Ohio-based nonprofit that owns the Capital Place Apartments, and Berkley Commons, owners of Berkley Commons Apartments. The attorney general’s office filed a separate suit against the JPF Affordable Housing Foundation.
Both lawsuits are in conjunction with the suit Citizens Energy Group filed Tuesday.
The new lawsuits came after the city paid Citizens Energy Group $850,000 in back-due water bills in February in order to get the water turned back on for residents at both apartment complexes. The water had been shut off after the owners failed to pay Citizens, even though landlords at both complexes had been collecting utility bill money from tenants. Tenants were without water for 24 hours.
Mayor Joe Hogsett said in a news conference that what the apartments are doing “just enrages you, that delinquent and uncaring property owners would put people’s lives in danger.”
Jeffrey Harrison, president and CEO of Citizens Energy Group, says there is very little Citizens can do other than to urge tenants to “put pressure on their landlord” to get utility bills paid.
“We’ve tried to enter into payment arrangements with them…we have the fiduciary duty to balance the needs of this account of apartment complex with with the rest of our customers,” Harrison said. “And it’s a constant struggle trying to balance those two things.”
According to the lawsuits, Citizens Energy Group is owed $1.3 million. The lawsuit filed by Citizens includes Berkley Commons, Capital Place, and a third property, The Woods at Oak Crossing, also owned by the JPC Affordable Housing Foundation.
I-Team 8 attempted to reach the JPC Affordable Housing Foundation and was unsuccessful. I-Team 8 also reached out to Berkley Commons and Capital Place Apartments and neither gave a comment.