Home owner and renter fight over raw sewage in basement

The city of Sedalia finds a home owner in violation of electrical, sewage and heating problems in a home that is being rented out to a family with three small children.

“When you walk into my front door, it smells like a raw sewage treatment plant full of raw sewage before it is treated”, says renter Brian Arnold.

This all started when ABC 17 News received a call from the renters saying they had raw sewage leaking in the basement. They say in October they started renting the property at 404 W. 6th Street in Sedalia.

“Within two days, we got power and everything turned on the same day we moved in, I tried to turn the furnace on even without the gas to see if the can would kick over and it wouldn’t do it, I went downstairs checking around and started tugging on wires to see if it was shorting or if it was just another problem. Well the box that you seen downstairs that runs to the furnace, there was a hot wire shoved in it”, says Arnold.

The homeowner claims the property has been in great condition before the Arnolds had moved in. They say that since the renters started making the claims that the water heating, electrical lines weren’t all working and that the sewage was leaking, they’ve tried fixing the property, but the renters won’t let them in.

“I’ve been over there and a matter of fact I’m the one that rewired the hot water tank with Mike Bell. We’ve been over there several times, pounded on the door, tried to call him, he won’t answer. He’s given excused to Mike Bell, and said, oh, I slept in, they pulled out cans, bottles, bricks, broom handles and the bristles out of a broom from my sewer line”, says Randy the property manager.

“He called numerous times before court, the guy would not answer the door, the reason is because if it’s not fixed you loose in court”, says owner Quentin Butts.

The Arnolds say they stopped paying rent because of this and that before they were summoned to court. A judge then ordered that the Arnolds were to only pay $250 a month for rent because of the conditions. The Arnolds told ABC 17 News they refuse to pay until everything is fixed. However the owner says he just wants the tenants to leave his property for good.

Property owners said they would give the $400 dollar deposit back to the family if they left immediately.