BILLINGS — Billings South Side trailer park resident Brenden Neal is speaking out after dealing with a sewage issue that he said has gone on for months.
The issue — which he believes to be a broken pipe — has caused sewage to flow up from underground piling up in his yard. Neal said that it first began in August and claims that his landlord hasn't been helpful in fixing the problem.
"It's frustrating to wake up every day, and like the first thing I notice is the smell," Neal said Tuesday morning standing near the pile of sewage. "I mean you can see all the sewage right there."
Neal claims that he brought up the issue with his landlord, C&D Properties, soon after it first began. While plumbers have visited, nothing has been fixed.
"It's frustrating to have to live like this," Neal said. "It's a real embarrassing situation. I mean people can even drive by the house and they can smell bad stuff."
After a couple of months without any progress, Neal reached out to the public health department. He included his property manager, Skye Lane, in an email sent on Nov. 12, pleading that something gets fixed.
Neal showed MTN the lengthy email thread, which goes back and forth about plumber visits, before Lane's last email was sent on Dec. 9 asking Neal a question.
"Do you know anybody who would want to dig up that spot between the clean-out and (the neighbor's) trailer?" Neal said, reading Lane's email out loud.
Neal said that email adds to his frustration, as he feels it should be their job to fix the problem rather than the other way around.
"Just the human decency alone, you would think someone would want to fix that," Neal said.
MTN did get a hold of Lane by phone on Tuesday, but she chose not to do an interview and instead shared a statement regarding the situation.
"We are aware of sewage backed up into the yard of one of the properties in our court and are working diligently to address the problem," Lane said in the statement.
But Neal said it's not happening quickly enough.
"It's kind of inhumane to treat someone like that," Neal said. "I mean, even if you don't legally have to do anything, morally, you should want to create a better life for your tenants."
There are legal obligations for landlords to uphold, according to state law.
The law states that "a landlord shall keep all common areas of the premises in a clean and safe condition..." and "maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, etc."
Neal said he's less worried about the legalities of the situation and much more hopeful that his overwhelming reality ends soon.
"I have an 8-year-old and 64-year-old dad that has to deal with this every day," Neal said. "It's just a little frustrating."
