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Neighbors, Harvey survivors finally have wall in between apartments

Hurricane Harvey flood victims left without walls between apartments for months finally have privacy. Their landlord delivered repairs after KHOU 11 News got involved.

SOUTH HOUSTON, Texas - Hurricane Harvey flood victims left without walls between apartments for months finally have privacy. Their landlord delivered repairs after KHOU 11 News got involved.

From the outside looking in, Tina Llamas and Kandi Tucker’s bedrooms need some touch up.

“I’m just glad that it’s over with,” Llamas said.

Related: Harvey survivors desperate for repairs in torn-up apartments

Yet both are all smiles over one semi-gloss painted wall. It separates their families who spent five months sharing tarp, tension poles, no privacy and a landlord’s promise to fix things that echoed without work until now.

“(KHOU 11 News) called them, and they showed up to start in,” Tucker said.

In January, Arlington Place Apartments renters called us complaining about leaky ceilings, mold, missing dry wall even exposed brick facades in the rooms of young children.

Hurricane Harvey flooded nearly 50 apartments in the complex owned by ROCO Real Estate, a spokesperson for the company said. ROCO ordered immediate repairs. However, bad weather and trouble finding contractors caused delays, according to the spokesperson.

“We’ve been receiving some complaints,” Rosemarie Donnelly, assistant Harris County Attorney, said last month.

KHOU 11 News took renters' gripes to the county attorney’s office and pressed owners for updates. Three weeks later, a four-man crew finished the wall between Tucker and Llamas’ apartments.

Both families are getting new flooring. Their landlord also offered Llamas free renovations to three other rooms. That work should be complete in two weeks.

"We’ll be so happy (and) relieved,” Llamas said. “It was hard, but we got through it.”

Repairs to other apartments damaged in the storm should be finished by mid-March, according to a ROCO Real Estate spokesperson.

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