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Tenants say they're not paying rent until bats are gone from Upper Kirby apartment complex

The apartment complex sent an email to residents disputing the allegations.

HOUSTON — Some residents living at the Metro Greenway apartments in Greenway Plaza said they aren't going to pay their rent until bats are removed from the complex.

A lawsuit was filed by tenant Nicole Standly last week, who claims the bats living in her walls have made her sick.

“I want to move," said a resident who did not want to be identified. "I don’t think it’s something that’s going to be resolved soon. It’s not OK to feel like I could wake up and be sick. That’s not OK.”

The resident is among several who she claims are refusing to pay their rent until the bats are gone.

“I’m not going to pay for something if I don’t feel like I can even be healthy in my house," the resident said. "When I have my nephew over, and he’s 1 year old, and he can get sick. I don’t even want him coming over right now.”

The woman's doctor said it's not healthy for residents to be living with bats in their walls.

“I would suggest whoever’s living there should consider moving out,” Memorial Villages emergency room Dr. Amir Zegar said.

The complex sent an email to its residents after KHOU 11 broke the story last Thursday.

The email disputes the findings of the original bat removal company and said KHOU 11 exaggerated the situation in its report.

The email that was sent to residents was sent to KHOU 11 on Monday by a manager of Metro Greenway's parent company.

The email states:

"You may or may not have seen the news story about Metro Greenway that aired last night on KHOU television. If you didn’t see it, the news story featured a resident and her attorney that are claiming there is a bat infestation at Metro Greenway. Our hope is that you understand there are two sides to every story. We disagree with much of what was provided in the story and we would like to provide you with more accurate information.

Approximately two weeks ago, a resident informed us she witnessed bats in her unit. Since that time, we have consulted our own expert to determine where these bats came from and how they may have entered her unit as this was the first report of such nature. After investigation, our expert informed us that there may be a few bats that have found their way into the building structure. He believes that the “thousands” of bats reported on the news story is highly exaggerated. The vendor who was originally engaged to remove these bats indicated to us that she had left her patio door open and after investigating, we believe the bats may have unintentionally came through her open door. We are working with our expert to determine a best course of action to humanly assist the bats to a new home.

According to the Bat World Sanctuary, the increase of human expansion has resulted in the loss of habitat for bats, forcing them to find alternative roosts to live. This is likely how they lost their way and recently found a home at our building. Also, according to Bat World Sanctuary, bats are clean, gentle and intelligent animals that enhance our lives in many ways. The bats found on site are insect eating bats and their eyesight is very good, so they will avoid humans if possible.

From the facts we have gathered and information from our expert, we have no reason to believe anyone is in danger because of the presence of the bats. Again, we are working diligently to find them a new home. In the meantime, we suggest if you see a bat on the ground, do not pick it up and to call management as soon as possible. As a reminder, we would always suggest keeping your patio screen door closed to keep out all types of bugs, birds, bats, etc. that can accidentally find their way in."

David Long's company Houston Bat Removal was the first to respond to the bat call at the complex.

He says there are several colonies of free tail bats at the complex, which means there are several thousand bats living there.

"That’s a free tail colony so it would be anywhere from 500 to 1,000 or more," Long said. "As far as the number of bats being exaggerated, any expert and any person can look up that free tails don’t colonize in small numbers. They only colonize in large numbers. So to spread that type of misinformation isn’t good because any one of your residents can look it up.”

Attorney Robert Schwartz said there’s not much the complex can do now.

He said since he filed the lawsuit, if the bats are removed or if the building is modified without notice, it can be considered destruction of evidence.

Schwartz said he learned that one man claims that he was bitten by a bat at the complex.

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