Tempe family without AC for nearly one month; city gives apartment complex until Friday to fix it

TEMPE (AZFamily) — Three siblings in Tempe say their apartment has been without air conditioning for almost one month.

With temperatures so high in the Valley, AC is a necessity. Living without it has made them feel unsafe and worried about their health.

The Joneses say they didn't make any progress toward a solution until they called Arizona's Family and the city of Tempe.

"Brutal," said Angel Jones.

"It's hot. It's really hot," said Terye Jones.

Angel and her sister Terye say the air conditioning went out in their two-story apartment on June 8th, and they reported the issue to management right away. 26 days later, it still hasn't been fixed.

"It's unbearable. We can't stay here," said Terye.

All this during the hottest June on record in Phoenix.

"Disappointed that like I shouldn't be handling this on a daily basis for the past month. So, it's been very hard," said Angel.

The sisters say they've been getting the runaround from property management at 909 West Luxury Apartments in Tempe.

"Now that we're getting ahold of the city of Tempe and you guys they finally want to keep in contact with us," said Terye.

In Tempe, renters are entitled to working air conditioning and the temperature should not exceed 82 degrees if cooled by AC, per city code.

The city says an inspector came by Wednesday morning and confirmed the violation. The complex has until the end of the day on Friday to fix the AC.

In the meantime, they've been given two portable AC units to try to cool the place down.

"Which don't even do anything and then they kick off the breaker too," said Terye. "It's kind of sad. We can't live here. It doesn't feel like home now."

That's why they say they've been paying to live in a nearby hotel for the last couple of weeks and the property manager told them Wednesday she would discount their rent. But to them, it feels too little too late.

"It's not right," said Terye.

"I feel extremely uncomfortable about the amount of time it's been without AC and it's not livable. It's not livable to be here," said Angel.

Arizona's Family has reached out to the property manager multiple times to try to get some answers on what the holdup has been, but we have not heard back.

The city says they'll be back on Friday to confirm that the AC is fixed. If it isn't, there could be citations.

The City of Tempe provided Arizona's Family this statement:

Tempe's City Code reads: