ST. LOUIS —
All of the trash has been picked up from Southwest Crossing Apartments, but a much larger mess still remains.
Last week, 5 On Your Side reported that TEH Realty stopped paying its bills or responding to its tenants at several of its St. Louis properties.
Now an employee at Southwest Crossing, who asked to remain anonymous, says maintenance requests have been ignored for weeks because the entire maintenance staff was fired a while ago.
"The toilet was leaking for two, three months," said Robert Collins, a soon-to-be-former tenant at Southwest Crossing.
"My air conditioner doesn’t work. The heat barely works," said Jarrett Turner, who's moving out this week."I’m paying too much money for nothing."
After dealing with structural issues, too many to even mention, both have decided to pack up.
"My house is in jeopardy, I’m not about to stay," says Turner.
They aren't the only ones.
An employee with TEH Realty told 5 On Your Side that 10% of all their residents have either moved out in the last week or have plans to do so.
"We got a couple more weeks here, we moved everything else, took our stuff out," says Collins.
TEH Realty evidently is in serious financial trouble.
Their website is down, staffing has been slashed and the ones that remain haven't been paid in more than a month. The water service at Southwest Crossing technically should be shut off, but the City of St. Louis has left it on to help out the residents.
All of these problems make it hard for Collins to even consider paying rent.
"All they want is money," Collins said.
State Senator Jamilah Nasheed is now jumping into the fray.
She sent a letter to Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt earlier this week, demanding an investigation.
A spokesperson for the Missouri AG told 5 On Your Side that its consumer protection division is seeking to mediate resolutions between tenants and TEH Realty, but stopped short of confirming an investigation.
Turner has already decided he won't stick around long enough to see what happens.
'Get out. Get out as soon as you can because you don’t know what the next move is," Turner said.
Southwest Crossing isn't the only problem property for TEH Realty.
Earlier this week, a contractor based out of Kansas City -- Eleal Moreno -- sued TEH Realty for not being paid for their work at a different St. Louis property, Northwind Estates.
5 On Your Side spoke to that contractor over the phone. He said they haven't been paid for more than $100,000 worth of work.
So far, TEH Realty has not filed for bankruptcy.
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