SAN ANTONIO – A notice for all residents to vacate sent panic through the Oak Hollow Mobile Home Park on Bandera and Prue roads on the city’s Northwest Side. Monday's notice from the park’s management claimed the city was behind the vacate notice, but the city said that’s not true.
The notice was delivered to all tenants at Oak Hollow, both in their mailboxes and at their doors.
"This is a 60-day termination letter to vacate the property by 12/16/2016. The city of San Antonio has condemned the mobile home park and will be giving out notices to vacate," resident Jesus Arredondo said, as he read the notice out loud.
It was a shocking letter that left the community stressed. The tenants weren't the only ones feeling confused.
"It’s crazy," said Rod Sanchez, director of the city of San Antonio's development services department. Although he’s the one with the authority to condemn a property, he never did that to Oak Hollow.
"We issued a vacate order last week to 12 of the units because they were unsafe. There was leaky sewage and it was just unsafe," he explained.
Those families were asked a week ago to temporarily leave and he reiterates, the city vacated only those 12 units.
"We have not condemned the park. We have not issued a vacate notice to anybody else. This is a complete misrepresentation of the city and our city attorneys are working on a letter to send to the owner and let him know that he’s misrepresented us and he needs to stop doing this," Sanchez said.
At the bottom of the notice there is contact information for management, but residents say they’ve been having trouble getting in contact with anyone. KSAT called the same number multiple times but each time, the voice message said the voicemail box had not been set up yet and there was no way to leave a message. KSAT also sent an email to the management that went unanswered.
Lawyers from Texas Rio Grande Legal Aide are interviewing dozens of tenants and gathering documents to see if the notice asking people to vacate is legal.
People at the park said they are not packing up and leaving. They said they're waiting to speak with the city and other attorneys about whether they still have to vacate or not, considering the reason given on the notice is false.