South Bend family demanding answers from property owners

SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- No hot water, no heat and no answers from his property management company. That's what one South Bend man says he's been dealing with as temperatures continue to drop.

When Larry Martinez moved into his home on 28th Street and Jefferson Blvd. a couple of months ago, he says everything was fine until Thursday.

Since then, he and his family have been living somewhere else.

"Since Thursday I have had no heat, no warm water nothing, the electrical does not turn on all the time so I had to get my kids out of here," Martinez said. 

Martinez has three children; a one year old, a three-year-old and a seven-year-old along with a pregnant girlfriend.

He says he reached out to the company that manages the property, Home Keys Realty Group, but barely anything has happened.

"I've called. I've emailed the owners, I talked to the women who help me get the house and she won't return my calls or my texts messages," Martinez said. "She will ignore me all day long and I don't hear nothing from nobody."

Somebody did come to the house and looked inside the laundry room, where the electrical box and heater is.

Martinez says they told him they didn't specialize in electrical so there was nothing much they could do.

"I've had to spend a lot of money replacing these, every time they go out, every time I hook up my microwave or my deep fryer that I have this blows," Martinez said while showing his outdated electrical box.

He then walks to his stove and turns it on and places his hand on it.

"When I turn these on these lights are suppose to turn on and they are supposed to get hot but they don't," said Martinez. "I can keep my hand on there because it won't turn on."

He turns on the hot water on his kitchen sink he says the water is like touching snow that is how cold it is.

Martinez showed the text messages and emails he sent out to the realtor who helped him find the home and the property managers.

He just wants things to be fixed or he would have to find other options.

"I want them to fix the electrical problems I have here or I need to find somewhere else to live and I just don't know what to do," said Martinez.

We reached out to Home Keys Realty Group but they cannot be reached after business hours.

We did a quick check and found out the company has a one-star rating on Google reviews from many former tenants saying they also had problems getting their issues fixed in a timely manner.