Some residents of a Little Havana apartment building are scrambling to find new places to live amid the holidays after their landlord ordered them to vacate their homes before the end of the year.
At the end of August, the City of Miami issued an unsafe structure violation for the building at 1536 SW 9th Street, asking the owner to go through the 40-50 year recertification process. At the end of October, the landlord posted a notice for residents to vacate the building.
"Although our building at 1536 SW 9th Street is safe for occupancy, it requires significant and substantial repair and renovation in order to be recertified and such repairs and renovation can only be completed when the building is empty and unoccupied," the landlord's notice said in part.
"It's very short notice. We don't know where to go," said Daniela Clavijo, a former resident.
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Clavijo was paying $1,250 a month for her studio apartment. But five months into her lease, she received the notice saying all residents in the building had until Dec. 31 to get out.
"There's nothing we can afford. Look at this. It's low-income housing," she said. "We don't have much money to spend."
Another resident, Dania Ochoa, said she's home with her baby and her husband is the sole provider. She doesn't know how they can continue to pay rent and at the same time save enough money to find another apartment.
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"We feel like nobody cares for us," Clavijo said.
The City of Miami Building Department issued a statement saying it does not have an order to vacate the building.
"This building does have an unsafe violation that requires repairs to be done. Owner is processing permit for structural repairs and may want building to be vacated to perform that work, however, that would need to be confirmed by building ownership," the statement said in part.
A property manager on site declined to give a comment to NBC 6.
An online search shows the property is currently listed for sale at $3 million. The listing states the property is being sold "as-is" with the open code violation.
"Now we're just rushing in the middle of the holidays just to find a place to live," Clavijo said. "It is very frustrating and disappointing."
NBC 6 also reached out to the property management, Beekman First Holdings, via email and did not receive a response.
The resident who moved out says she has called multiple times to try and get her security deposit and her calls are not answered.
