NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Sadia Marable, a tenant at Lee's Landing Apartments and a teacher in Newport News, told 13News Now she is feeling frustrated.
She showed us a thermostat placed inside her home early Friday morning getting down to 51 degrees Fahrenheit.
The situation forced her to turn to 13News Now for assistance.
Without the heat working properly inside the apartment, Marable said the situation is having a negative effect on her work life and school life for her 5-year-old daughter.
"It makes us angry," said Marable. "It makes us upset because our bodies are so tense from the cold."
So cold — Marable said that a thermostat inside her apartment has logged the air at 60 degrees this month and below that this week.
"They're telling me to use the circuit breaker to cut it on and off when you can take the chill off the air. 54, 51 degrees. That's not chill in the air. That's too cold," said Marable.
She claimed the heating unit has been faulty since last year. So, technically, it works. However, she said temps inside can go up to the high 80s and even 91 degrees.
More recently, with colder weather expected outside, Marable said she brought the issue up to her landlord at Lee's Landing on October 17.
"It took two weeks before somebody came, and when I came home, the heat was just still going, it never cut off. The problem wasn't fixed," said Marable. "I called back and they were like, 'We'll give you space heaters.' We got those space heaters maybe two days ago."
Even so, Marable demonstrated what plugging in two space heaters can do at her place. Less than five minutes later, much of the power in her apartment went out.
"[My daughter] doesn't even get to sleep in her room anymore. And if she does, she's the only one with heat," she said.
On late Friday afternoon, 13News Now stopped by the Lee's Landing leasing office when it was supposed to be open. A crew encountered a "closed-for-the-day early" sign, "per [their] corporate office."
But mere hours after 13News Now emailed the landlord Friday, she emailed Marable confirming someone is coming by Tuesday, November 22 to make HVAC repairs.
"I like living here," Marable said while trying to hold back tears. "I'm sad that it's taking this much to get some sort of action. Why? Why?"
The young mother said she worries about pursuing recourse, with something like the court system, because her little family simply cannot afford legal fees.
She is staying hopeful, though, that the problem with her heating unit is resolved sooner than later — especially with Thanksgiving break just around the corner.
13News Now also tried contacting the Lee's Landing landlord for her side of the story Friday, by phone and by email. She has not yet responded to our inquiries.