INDIANAPOLIS — The Marion County Health Department is taking legal action against Irvington Lofts for not having heat.
"It's infuriating. It's infuriating," said Brian.
Residents at Irvington Lofts off East Washington Street are using space heaters to stay warm.
Residents have told WRTV the heating system has been an issue for years.
Management says this outage was planned and residents were notified. The heating and cooling system is being replaced for around $250,000 per building. The South building isn't expected to be repaired until November 30th.
Temperatures are expected to average out in the mid 40s with the lows in the upper 20s.
"I want it fixed so we don't have to worry about this no more," said a resident.
The outage comes on the heels of a two week power outage that forced the Marion County Public Health Department to step in and take legal action.
As we reported, residents were eventually provided hotels. They also got $300 dollars off of their November rent.
While reimbursement for the heat outage isn't being provided, management says space heaters are.
"The law requires the landlord to provide the conditions where people can live in habitable conditions and that includes heat. Aspirations to someday fix the heat isn't good enough. Providing space heaters as substitute isn't good enough because there is a subsequent fire danger with a lot of space heaters being used," said Fran Quigley with Health and Human Rights Clinic, Indiana University McKinney School of Law.
Quigley said resident rights are being violated and they should take action.
"They should always reach out to the Marion County Health Dept. Then the health department, it will conduct an inspection but they should also contact Indiana Legal Services. They have a team of terrific housing lawyers there and this is against the law so there are legal remedies for every tenant living like this," said Quigley.
Records from the Marion County Health Department show it issued 9 violations to Irvington Lofts so far this year. 7 of those are heat related.
Irvington Lofts management says it's working with the health department until both buildings are repaired. In the meantime, residents will receive $150 dollars off of their December rent, as a repayment for the loss of food.
