Tulsa Woman Blames Apartment Complex For 'Soggy Christmas'

A Tulsa woman says her apartment complex is to blame for her soggy Christmas.

It's been four days since water came showering into Kelsey Rowdan's apartment. Crews started making repairs Thursday, but, she said it's still not enough.

Rowdan said it didn't take long to realize something was wrong when she woke up to find water dripping from her ceiling thanks to a broken pipe upstairs.

"It looked like a shower was in the middle of our apartment," she said.

She's thankful she noticed it so fast and moved her furniture, which was saved; the same couldn’t be said for her carpet, ceiling and walls.

Rowdan blames her upstairs neighbor.

"He turned off his electricity and left his window open, his pipes froze and burst causing this; but since it's not their fault they are refusing to give us a place to stay while they make the renovations," she said.

A repair crew is there now, but Rowdan said management hasn't done much else to make things better.

She said an insurance adjuster told her the apartment is livable so they won't give her a temporary place to stay.

"It's hard to breath, like, this stuff, you shouldn't be breathing this stuff. It's coming out of our vents, our light fixtures even our windows as well," Rowdan said.

The apartment complex released a statement that says:

"It’s an unfortunate situation caused by circumstances out of our control - a resident failed to keep heat/electricity on in their home. Once we were made aware of the situation, we immediately took action to remedy the situation. The Health Department has inspected and reported that we are doing everything per their requirements. Our residents are not authorized to make repairs to apartments. We will address this directly with the resident to ensure there was no miscommunication on the matter. With water damage, there is a repair process in place to remediate the apartment home in a reasonable amount of time. This includes drying, dehumidifying, drywall removal and replacement, and new carpet installation. We anticipate the major work to be completed tomorrow and the touch up painting next week. We apologize for the inconvenience to the two affected residences. -Vintage on the Yale"

Rowdan said, "This is supposed to be a happy time and you shouldn't be stressed out over something like this."

One attorney we spoke with said all renters should have insurance.

Landlords are required to make repairs with a "reasonable time," however, that term can be broad as the demand for pipe contractors is high this time of year.