Some tenants in a Walnut Street apartment building say they haven’t had heat this winter

For some people, being carried in the arms of firefighters is a kind of fantasy.

But for 83-year-old Deborah Diamond, it was misery. On Friday evening, she and the other residents of Embassy Apartments at 2100 Walnut St. were told by their building’s management to evacuate because the city deemed it unsafe after a daylong power outage had disabled the fire alarm system. Firefighters strapped Diamond, who is on hospice care, to a chair and carried her down nine flights of stairs.

“This building is in tremendous disrepair,” she said of the 15-story property built in 1900.

Even before the outage, some residents said their apartments had not received heat this winter, or weak heating at best. Two residents said they measured temperatures inside their apartments that were far below legal temperatures.

PMC Property Group, which manages the building, and the property manager for Embassy Apartments did not respond to requests for comment.

The city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections has issued two sets of violations to the building for the electrical problems and lack of heat. The first, issued Friday, stated that the building was in violation of housing code with its fire systems, elevator, and generator not functioning due to the power outage, and included over $4,000 in fines. The second, issued Tuesday, said the building was in violation of the city’s minimum temperature heating rules.

An L&I representative said that an initial investigation found that two apartments had insufficient heat, but that inspectors would soon return because “there’s probably going to be more.” The representative said that, typically, buildings are given 35 days to repair insufficient heating, while buildings with no heat are required to do within seven to 10 days.

Once the power went out last Thursday evening, Diamond and other residents complained that there was no electricity, water, or heat in the building until they were directed to leave. It was the second power outage of the week; electricity also went out briefly Dec. 3. When it went out again two days later, the building’s backup generator also failed, according to an email sent by the management company to residents.

One resident who has lived in the building for a few years, who wished to remain anonymous because of previous negative experiences with building staff and a fear of retaliation, said that a thermometer showed the temperature inside her apartment at 49 degrees last week as the outdoor nightly temperatures dropped into the 20s. She said she has contacted PMC Property Group several times about her broken heat — which has not worked at all this winter — since October.

“They don’t live here, so they don’t care,” she said.

Peco fixed the latest power outage on Sunday, and residents were allowed to return by that afternoon. Electricity and water have returned, but for some, there’s still no heat.

In a Dec. 4 email to a resident who asked about the heating issues, PMC blamed dysfunctional boilers. The email said that the boilers were providing some heat but needed to be repaired by a contractor and that the company was hoping to provide updates soon.

“I don’t think there’s been heat yet,” said Nicholas Bates, 23, a resident who moved in this summer. He had to use a friend’s gym membership to access a bathroom to get ready for work on Friday. “It’s been a major inconvenience,” he said.

Landlords are required to provide heating systems that keep living areas heated to at least 68 degrees from Oct. 1 to April 30, and in September or May if the outdoor temperature drops below 60 degrees, according to the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter. The resident with a below-50-degree apartment said that management told her at one point she could be reimbursed up to $50 for space heaters.

Residents have had mixed experiences on receiving heat, possibly depending on where in the building their apartments are located. Those who have now lived in the building for multiple winters said that the heat may have had sporadic issues in the past, but nothing to this extent.

Diamond, a resident of the building for over 40 years, was taken to a hotel by PMC staff on Friday night. Before then, she said, she had to turn on her oven to keep warm. She spent that night and Saturday sharing a room with a young male resident and said that a PMC staff member paid for her room. Diamond said she believed that property management staff had done all they could to improve the situation, but that the problems were caused by the company’s neglect.

It is unclear if all residents had the same opportunity for a paid hotel room; emails from PMC staff to Embassy residents on Friday said that residents ought to check their renters insurance to see whether it would pay for a hotel room.

Emails from PMC to residents said that the company and Peco had determined that the electricity outage was the utility’s responsibility. L&I’s notice of violation characterized the loss of power as a “Peco power outage.”

The utility did not specify whose responsibility the outage was, but a spokesperson said it was caused by “an issue with an underground electric cable.”

“We understand that it is always inconvenient for customers to be without service, and PECO worked extensively with the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management throughout the process and shelter was provided to affected residents while repairs were being completed,” the spokesperson said.

This is not the first PMC property to have heating issues in recent months. At 2121 Market St., residents reported the opposite experience, where their heat turned on despite unusually warm November temperatures. One resident told The Inquirer that her apartment was 85 degrees.