Miami Condo Building Might Be Evacuated:Management Company Didn't Pay Bills

NBC TV reports:

Some residents of a Miami condominium building might be displaced due to numerous code violations and unsanitary conditions, including a mountain of trash.

Residents of a condominium complex at Northwest 16th Avenue and 15th Street said their trash has not been collected in four or five months. The result is a pile of garbage that is about one story tall.



The trash is not the building's only problem. Residents said the management company and the homeowners' association have not paid the electric, water or trash bills, NBC 6's Tom Llamas reported.

Inside the building, there were puddles in the stairways, cockroaches and mosquitoes. Fire officials went to the building Monday night because there was no electricity, meaning the fire alarms did not work. Code enforcement officers and fire officials planned to inspect the building Tuesday.

"It's a mess because our garbage hasn't been picked up in like five months. The water is going down the stairs. We don't have lights. They had cut the lights off the other day. It's a mess. We can't live here. There's mosquitoes because of the garbage," said resident Thalia Miller.

Because the fire alarm did not work, an official from Miami Fire Rescue stayed at the condo complex all night Monday to make sure nothing happened. The trash mound could act like a wick if a fire did start.

The two-year-old building has 51 units, but only 17 were occupied. Some of the units have been broken into and some air conditioning units have been removed.

No word from the National Association of Realtors on this one.