After living in what they believe are unsuitable and unsafe conditions, tenants from Thurston Road apartments took their complaints to the buildings’ owner directly.
“I’ve seen ceilings falling down, raw sewage, bed bugs, roaches, rats, and squirrels trying to eat their way in,” said tenant Mary Brown.
According to Thurston Road Tenant Association, tenants are being wrongfully evicted.
The association says some tenants are refusing to pay their rent because of poor living conditions.
“I feel like, since my kids were put in danger, it’s my right as a parent to defend them and protect them by any means necessary,” said resident Barbara Rivera.
Her apartment has several code violations, including a bathroom ceiling she says fell on her daughter’s head.
“The water from the pipes had come down from the upstairs neighbor and it fell on top of us and they didn’t really do much about it,” she said.
Thurston Realty apartments were sold by former landlord Peter Hungerford in the summer to the property's current management company, KLP LLC.
Residents on Friday traveled to the home of the new owner, Brendan Kyle, to deliver a letter explaining their frustrations.
While the city of Rochester cited their old landlord with 70 code violations and referred to him as an absentee landlord, tenants still say the new management isn't doing enough.
According to the Thurston Road Tenant Association, they have been forced to live with sewage problems, bad electrical, bed bugs and rodent infestation.
“If they were living in the conditions that we are living in they wouldn’t pay rent either,” said Brown.
Kyle said he is talking to his lawyers to try to stop any pending evictions. The Thurston Tenant Association wants legislation passed in Rochester to prevent landlords from evicting tenants if they have ongoing safety code violations.
Editor's note: An earlier addition of this story featured an embedded tweet that referenced Brendan Kyle coming out of his house to speak with protesters. The house referenced in the tweet and photo were not Kyle's ,but that of a neighbor not connected to this story.