HOUSTON – Annette Sealey and her husband Jerome have lived at the Glenwood Village condominiums on Leonora Street and Bellfort Street for over 20 years. They raised two daughters there and now have five grandchildren visit. However, those visits have stopped in the last few weeks.
When Hurricane Beryl hit the Texas coast on July 8th it caused significant damage in the Houston area. The Sealey’s home was no different. Their roof sustained significant damage.
The condo’s management company sent maintenance out to put tarps over it. But the company hasn’t done much since.
The couple reached out to KPRC 2′s helpdesk with this message:
“Good morning; I am not sure whom to reach out to; however, my husband and I are desperately in need of help. My husband and I are both senior citizens and are fighting with HOA to fix our roof after Beryl. Our home is unlivable after Beryl, due to our roof caving in and leaking everywhere. I have reached out to my HOA about the roof since after the hurricane, and I am getting nowhere with them. They came and incorrectly put a tarp on my roof. However, it still leaks when it rains. My home insurance won’t fix the inside, because the HOA won’t fix the roof. We have lived at Glenwood Village Condo for over 20 years and have always paid our HOA fee on time. Now we need them to fix our roof, and they are ignoring us and trying to get us to sell our condo. We cannot sell, we have nowhere else to go, we just need our home fixed.”
KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun met the couple Tuesday morning. Annette gave Balogun and photojournalist Brett Doster a tour of their home.
As you walk into the home, you can’t miss the wall of mold in the living room. Near the kitchen, a gaping hole where part of the ceiling fell in, inches away from where Jerome was sitting at the time.
“All of a sudden, this whole thing came down,” Annette said. “You know, my husband, he was sitting there. Good thing he was not more in and all this up to be falling on top of everything.”
Buckets are strategically placed along the floors to catch rainwater.
“[The] situation is getting worse and worse,” Annette said.
The spare bedroom, where their grandchildren stayed when they spent the night, was destroyed. There’s mold on the ceiling and the walls. Annette cleared most of the items in the room, moving it to their bedroom or any available space in the home.
While showing Balogun and Doster around, Annette pulled out her phone, showing messages she had with “Andrea,” the person in the condo offices.
“This is messages that I sent her,” Annette told Balogun.
“Hi, Ms. Andrea, this is Annette Sealey could you please give me a call. It is important. Thank you.”
The message was sent Tuesday, July 16th. There was no response.
Sealey sent another message on Thursday, July 25th.
“Ms. Andrea, this is Annette, I have water, a lot of water leaking in all over the place,” the message reads. “Something needs to be done. I call you, I text, and you never respond back to me. This is not good. This is not our fault. We don’t deserve to be [treated] like this.”
An hour later, Sealey gets a response.
“I will call [the] insurance company and ask for update,” the response reads.
Sealey checks in the following day and is told they were still waiting to hear back.
The grandmother shares the story of how her husband nearly was hit by falling sheet rock then describes all the damage.
A response doesn’t come until the following Monday, asking if the couple is willing to sell their condo.
“My owners asked me today to see if y’all were interested in sell[ing],” reads one message. “We understand that unit has a lot of work and wanted to offer you options.”
The Sealeys didn’t respond.
“I am responding to ask you what is going on,” Annette said. “Why I haven’t heard anything from you, and you sent me this text message about what the owners are saying. I want to know what’s my right.”
Asking if they’re willing to sell is irresponsible according to David Kahne, an attorney who represents homeowners in disputes and associations. Kahne isn’t involved in this incident nor is he giving legal advice.
“There’s a statutory duty to get this done,” Kahne said. “This should have been fixed long ago. The management company has to do what the what the board tells it to do. And the board has to tell it fix the roof.”
KPRC 2 made repeated efforts reaching the homeowners association, the board members, and the management company but were unsuccessful.
Balogun sent a text message to ‘Andrea,’ the woman Annette was communicating with, but she did not respond to his messages.
Kahne said all condominiums are required to carry insurance to cover damage to the roof and similar problems.
“They have a legal right to have the roof fixed. Timely,” Kahne said.
Kahne shares this for those who may be in similar situations with their condominium homeowner’s association.
- Contact the management company and share your issue.
- If you don’t get a good response, contact the president of the homeowner’s association board or anyone else on the board.
“The condominium also has a duty to repair the roof, especially if it’s creating a crisis by leaking water,” he said.
As for the Sealey’s, their own insurance said they can’t make any repairs to their home until the homeowner’s association fixes the roof.
“This is our place. That we’ve been here for so long,” Annette said.