Cypress Park apartment residents woke up to no water and no answer

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Some Columbus residents woke with no water this morning.

It had been turned off. The only problem is they all say they’ve paid their bills.

Earlier today, residents at Cypress Park tell me they couldn’t use the bathroom, they couldn’t cook, and they couldn’t even feed their children because. They had no water.

They say the water bill is included in their rent, but the Columbus Light and Water says the water bill. Hasn’t been paid.

This building you see behind me. That’s the front office. Residents tell me, it’s been vacant since thanksgiving.

They say they haven’t seen a single employee since the holidays.

Those that live here say they’ve tried calling the corporate office to pay rent, but no one answers or calls back.

According to an online search, the apartments are owned by a company called BezTak, out of Michigan.

On their website, the company says it’s responsible for 15 thousand different residences across the U.S.

“The phones don’t work. If you try to reach out to them. You can look online all day trying to find corporate’s number. No one can answer,” said Alicia Harris, apartment resident.

“I was about to give my children a bath and the water didn’t work. I looked around the front of the house, the back of the house, even went upstairs and asked my neighbor was her water working and she said ‘no, nobody’s water is on,'” said Harris.

“The guy was walking around and he was turning everybody’s water off. I said ‘well, what’s going on with the water, is a pipe broke or something?’ and he said, ‘well, we’re turning the water off due to non-payment.’ I said ‘you know, our water is included in our rent, so I don’t understand…’ He said, ‘I’m just doing my job, and this is what I’ve come to do, the water is three months behind. They are like, $17,000 behind on payment,” said Harris.

The water was turned back on just before 4 o’clock this afternoon.

We reached out to BezTak and they say they believe the issue started with a change in ownership a few months back.