Sewage backups, unresponsive landlord plague Bloomington family

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (KMSP) - A Bloomington family was faced with a nasty situation this month when sewage repeatedly backed up into their basement just a short time after they moved into the home, while the company who oversees the property took days to respond and still hasn't corrected the situation.

Pamela Kemp, who lives at the property with her three children, said there have been repeated maintenance issues with Renter's Warehouse, which operates the building and is in charge of repair work. The actual owner lives out of state and the company says it has reached out multiple times in order to approve work as soon as possible.

“Nobody should have to live with sewage in their home," Kemp said."You don’t want to live like that.”

In the meantime, they sent out a technician to assess the damage. It was ultimately classified as a "serious hazmat situation," but no action was taken until the City of Bloomington got involved Thursday and Renter's Warehouse mobilized maintenance workers to fix the issues.

“There has been some delay with communicating with the homeowner on this," said Renter's Warehouse CEO Kevin Ortner. "However, I’ve certainly seen worse cases where that’s happened and I think in this case all parties are working to get this resolved for the resident.”

Renter's Warehouse has come under fire in the past for questionable business practices, but despite that it still has an A rating from the Better Business Bureau. 

Kemp says she'd like to move out of the home but isn't ready financially. In the meantime, all she wants is for the basic utilities to work and sewage to remain in the building's pipes.

“I’m here with my children and I don’t want them around it," she said. "The mess is just disgusting.”