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Residents experiencing problems in Highland Apartments

173 views · Published 29 January 2015 · 4:34 · Indexed 27 September 2026

Channel: LOCAL 12 · 2015 · News & Politics

CORRYVILLE (Rich Jaffe) -- Your tax dollars, through a variety of social service agencies, are paying for many of the apartments in the building at 2532 Highland Avenue.

We've shown you problems in the building before, back in December, when leaks were running from the second floor all the way into the basement.

Now there's a new concern, the power may be cut off if the landlord doesn't pay his bill.

On December 15, 2014 and again on December 24, 2014, building inspectors took a look at 2532 Highland Avenue and wrote orders to fix a long list of things, everything from leaks to fire hazards.

Some of those things have been fixed while others have not.

The owner, Terrance Sebastian, was supposed to meet with the building inspector on Monday but he didn't show up.

Gary Jesswein said that he's been asking the owner of his building to fix the leak in his bathroom for five months.

Today we showed him the notice from Duke Energy that says if his landlord doesn't pay an outstanding bill of almost $2,700 dollars, the power's going to be shut off February 5, 2015.

My landlord is just a slumlord, said Jesswein. He doesn't care. He just wants to make money and let the property go to hell.

Some of the orders on the building include things like fixing the fire hazard ceiling in the basement.
Where an apartment floor's been replaced, it's being held up by unsecured 4x4's.

There was also a chirping smoke detector in need of a battery, and a carbon monoxide detector that was also clearly not working.

The building is owned by Terrance Sebastian, under TBC Enterprises.

While we were in the basement, his nephew, Tamiko Hawkens, showed up with his uncle on the cell phone.

Sebastian said he'd gotten calls from tenants saying we were blocking the driveway.

Sebastian said there's nothing wrong with the building and that he wanted us off the property.

Know why they concerned? Cause they don't believe in Christ Jesus, said Hawkens.

Leaks in some of the apartments, along with some other things have been fixed since the last visit from Local 12 on December 18, 2014, but the patches have problems.

In Jessie Dukes apartment, the fixed leak already appears to be leaking again, bubbling the wall.

He says there's nothing wrong in this building, said Duke.I think it still needs some repairs here right now, my walls bubbling again.

Terrance Sebastian only bought the building in march of 2013, according to the Hamilton County auditor, but he's already got the place up for sale, which may speak to why he isn't spending a lot of money on repairs.

When asked about those facts he replied to stay out of his business.

It turns out his business has quite a few problems.
TBC owns three other properties as well and all four buildings are under orders by building inspectors and/or health department inspectors to fix a variety of issues.

Terrance Sebastian, the building owner, was also under a disconnect order recently by Cincinnati Water Works.

Residents say he paid part of that bill, so the water will stay on for now.

Sebastian says neither the water nor power will be shut off.

If you have issues with a problem landlord let us know.

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Residents experiencing problems in Highland Apartments

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