SEATTLE — A Seattle couple is now in need of a new place to live after the ceiling in their apartment collapsed while they were home.
“We loved it. This was kind of a dream location for us,” Fern Garner said.
But that dream turned into a nightmare for Garner and her partner shortly after they moved into their Madison Park apartment.
The pair said they started seeing warning signs back in December.
“Started noticing leakage in the bathroom and then from there, I started looking around and discovered mold on the windows,” said Garner.
She says things only got worse.
“Early March, we started noticing a crack in the bedroom that was leaking water and getting bigger,” said Garner.
Garner says on March 26, she was getting ready for work when she noticed a chunk of the bedroom ceiling was gone as her partner was sleeping.
“I woke her up, moved her to the couch, and moved the bed out of the way. Within 10 minutes, it came down,” said Garner.
Their perfect space was suddenly littered with drywall, debris, pieces of wood, and rain-soaked insulation.
“We documented everything as it came up to our management company,” said Garner.
But that didn’t seem to have much of an effect.
KIRO 7 reached out to building management, but has not heard back
Meanwhile, the city has issued an emergency order for repairs and restoration, and the couple is considering legal options.
“It’s been a lot to process.”
The tenants tell KIRO 7 their focus right now is to find safe, stable housing.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help with the costs of finding housing.