JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The News4Jax I-Team continued to try and find answers for residents of a Westside apartment complex on Friday, after people living at Arbor Oaks told us they can’t get a hold of anyone to address ongoing issues.
JEA on Thursday said that Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC — the company that owns the property, according to records — finally paid the thousands of dollars it owed for a delinquent water bill after we reported on the water outage there, but residents still can’t find anyone to talk to as the city citations start to pile up on the empty front office.
“So who am I sending the you know, letter saying that, you know, I’m breaking the lease or, you know, withholding rent if things aren’t getting fixed, if the address that I’ve been paying rent to is no longer there anymore?” resident Naportia Jones said.
Jones said no one has been at her complex office for some time, so she calls the number on her resident portal where she pays her rent, but no one picks up.
The phone number is the same number listed on the complex next door, where a sign says “People’s Choice.”
That company is linked to multiple apartment complexes in the city.
People’s Choice is tied to an LLC that sold Arbor Oaks back in April to Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC, according to records. State records show Andrew Sallee as the registered agent and manager of Jacksonville Rental Properties. He told News4JAX on Thursday that he no longer owns Arbor Oaks, despite what records show, but has provided no proof to back up that claim.
Naportia, who lives at Arbor Oaks, says she still gets emails from People’s Choice.
News4JAX went to check the office at Arbor Oaks again on Friday.
We have been here multiple days this week after it was left without water for before our reporting helped get it back on. On top of that, we saw a kitchen countertop covered in bugs, and issues with the ceiling, and the city actually cited the complex on Thursday for a sagging ceiling and holes in walls, among other listed reasons.
News4JAX also went next door to the other apartment complex and saw some people talking to residents who looked like maintenance workers. When we asked about whether residents at Arbor Oaks should take their concerns there, they didn’t have any real answers and wouldn’t identify themselves.
At that complex, a note says the office is closed, but says to go to another nearby apartment complex on 103rd Street, which is also linked to People’s Choice, according to property records. News4JAX went to that location, as we have four times this week, but no one was there.
“What I’m hoping to do is withhold the rent and I haven’t paid rent or anything, hoping that someone will come knock on the door or call me and be like, Hey, Miss Jones, you haven’t paid rent, or, you know, something, just to get someone to call back, or just to get somebody you know here,” Jones said.