JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A mold problem has become so bad that a woman says she thinks it's harming her father's health.
After several complaints to management at the Townsend Apartments in Arlington, the On Your Side team spoke with the family who hopes there will finally be some action.
"If that's coming through on the ceiling, can you imagine how it is between both floors?" Segura Jenkins, the tenant told First Coast News.
He moved back into the Townsend Apartments but says he noticed something smelled awful. The mold grew and spread in the ceiling of his master bathroom.
“I can smell it in my nose, I got two masks on and I can smell it with the masks dropping down. But yeah, I can smell it, the visualization of it is incredible, like, it’s bad," Jenkins' daughter Courtney Evans said.
Evans walked through the apartment and found other spots of mold in the hallway leading to the master bedroom.
Jenkins claims that he started developing health problems after moving in.
“I didn’t have a cough until I moved in that apartment,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins wanted to transfer to another unit but says his unit was denied.
First Coast News reached out to management. Their claim is they couldn't enter the apartment due to a security system. Jenkins claims the alarm was deactivated.
On Thursday, a team of seven people walked through the unit, according to the property manager.
A property manager told First Coast News they would also bring out a third-party company to find out the source of the mold.
Jenkins says the matter is urgent.
"I told them, you don’t care about my life but I do, it doesn’t mean anything to you but it means a whole lot to me and it just kept getting worse and worse,” Jenkins said.
Management says they will fix the issue but didn't give a timeline.
A statement from the company that owns the property was sent to First Coast News and is provided below.
“The health and well-being of our tenants at Townsend Apartments is of the utmost importance. We strive to maintain the property and respond to issues in a timely manner. Out of consideration for the privacy of our residents, we decline to comment any further on our work to resolve outstanding issues.”