Family, landlord at odds after sprinkler failure destroys apartment

BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — A family in Burgaw lost many of their belongings after a sprinkler system failed at their apartment.

Now, they’re in a battle with their landlord over damages, and if they can continue to live there.

“There was water everywhere. There was water in the kitchen. I was wading through water,” said Tracy Jacobs, a tenant at Cooper’s Pointe Apartment Homes.

Jacobs and her son’s lives were flipped upside down when cold temperatures caused a sprinkler system to go off inside their apartment in Burgaw.

The water damaged all of their belongings, the floor, and walls.

The landlord, Cooper’s Pointe Apartment Homes, wants the family out so they can make repairs.

“I’ve been at Cooper’s Pointe for seven years and I’ve never been through something like this ever. I always pay my rent on time, I’ve never been late, I’ve always been a good tenant. But when this happened, I ain’t heard nothing, they just told us, ‘You got to get out,'” said Jacobs.

According to a local real estate attorney, Cooper’s Pointe does have the right to ask the family to move, provided they give them a reasonable amount of time to do so, but the attorney says the family should not have to pay rent from the time the apartment became unlivable.

The family also wants the apartment complex to help replace their items, but so far, no luck.

We spoke with Don Bullard Insurance, who said if the family had renters insurance, it would have replaced what was damaged, but the family did not.

A family friend, Darius Bentley, who is helping the Jacobs thinks the landlord should be liable for the damages anyway.

“The Jacobs family is not asking for much. They’re not asking for much at all. All they want is what they lost. They’re not asking for pain and suffering, they’re not asking for any of that. They just want what was lost in the flood. I don’t think that’s too much to ask for,” said Bentley.

In the meantime, they have to find a new place as soon as possible.

We reached out to Cooper’s Pointe and their parent company, The NRP Group, to get their side of the story. We have not heard back.

If you want to help the family, you can visit their GoFundMe page.