‘Three years of hell’: Tenants describe troubled Las Vegas apartment complex

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — “Three years of hell,” tenants describe troubled Las Vegas apartment complex

Tenants at the Apex apartments said conditions at the property have not improved despite the property owners and Clark County reaching an agreement in April. Now an attorney at Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, which provides legal assistance for individuals who cannot afford to hire an attorney, is representing the tenants at the apartment complex located on Twain Avenue near Maryland Parkway.

“The building is not safe,” attorney Nick Haley said during a visit to the property Wednesday. “Boarded-up windows, combined especially with the electrical issues, it’s just a recipe for disaster.”

Haley said he is representing 23 tenants through the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada’s Consumer Rights Project. David Henderson is one of those tenants.

“You know how you turn the lights off, you think you’re going to sleep peacefully but you’re not,” Henderson said. “Like you still have thoughts in your head like dang, the ceiling could come in.”

Henderson showed the 8 News Now Investigators his unit which he shares with his wife, children, and nephew. He pointed to electrical issues, a hole in the bathroom ceiling and an air conditioner which he said he took from another unit after the air conditioner in his apartment broke.

“They wouldn’t come and fix anything,” Henderson told the 8 News Now Investigators.

Henderson said his rent is approximately $1,000 a month for a one-bedroom unit. He and some other tenants have withheld rent because of the living conditions.

“The bottom line is we do need to get people moved into a more stable situation,” Haley said.

California-based Pro-Residential Services bought the property in January of 2021, according to Clark County records. Since then, tenants said conditions rapidly deteriorated.

The county sued the property owners in 2022 after the business was operating without a license. The county alleged the owners provided unsafe housing in multiple states while collecting coronavirus rental relief money.

The owners and tenants received a total of $488,000 of coronavirus relief money by May of 2024, also known as CHAP  (CARES Housing Assistance Program), according to the county.

Per the settlement in April, the owners agreed to repair the property, follow building and fire codes, and pay the county $45,000.

While the settlement cleared the way for formal evictions, it did not clear the way for summary evictions which were previously put on hold by a judge, according to Haley. Formal evictions require a lengthier legal process.

Haley said when he discovered that tenants were receiving summary eviction notices and he stepped in, the owners stopped the summary eviction process.

Tenant Travis Smith had attended multiple court appearances after the county sued the property owners.

“It’s been three years of hell and I’m finally getting up out of here,” Smith told the 8 News Now Investigators.

Smith said the apartment smelled like sewage due to the dilapidated unit below his apartment.

Clark County is now working with tenants to try to help them relocate while the future of the property remains unclear.

The 8 News Now Investigators reached out to the property owners Wednesday afternoon and did not receive a response.

For more information about the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, click here.

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