CHARLOTTE — Several people are fighting to keep their homes after being abruptly kicked out of the TownePlace Suites Charlotte at University Research Park.
Tenants got letters two weeks ago telling them to leave without notice after the building was sold.
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Latanya Jones and her husband have called the TownePlace Suites home for more than a year.
“The last week and a half have been pure hell,” Jones told Channel 9.
They are one of about six families who live day-to-day at the property that looks nearly abandoned with stoves in the parking lot and trash scattered through the halls.
The extended stay-style hotel was sold to Wellington Advisors, which told tenants to leave immediately with plans to turn the property into apartments.
However, the families who established residency have tenant’s rights at the hotel.
Resident Brittany Blake said her legal aid attorney advised them not to go.
“Not right now,” Blake said. “Keep waiting it out.”
Blake said they’re also still trying to track down the COVID-19 relief money paid to the TownePlace Suites to cover her family’s rent until the end of June.
“Stressed,” Blake said. “I wish I could say I’m good. I’m not.”
Residents said the new owners have cut internet and cable.
Blake said she must take a leave of absence from her job because she doesn’t have internet.
“I have to have internet because I work from home,” she said. “I work for an insurance company.”
They also received notices from the U.S. Postal Service saying that the owner had stopped mail service.
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“I get his VA appointments, bank statements,” Jones said. “We have car notes. This is our residence.”
The tenants said management has gone from trying to evict them to offering families $1,000 to move.
They can also pay $2,400 a month to stay in the new apartments.
“Everything is still the same. I’m not going to pay you $2,400 for an 870-square-foot room,” Blake said.
(Watch the video below: ‘We have no options’: Extended-stay hotel gives no notice to residents to vacate property)
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