USPS stops delivering to Northshore apartment complex after mailboxes left unsecured for months

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Tenants at an east Houston apartment complex are fed up, saying they've gone more than a month without getting deliveries to their mailboxes.

The United States Postal Service confirmed it stopped delivering mail to the Falls of Birchbrook apartments because the boxes aren't properly secured.

An Eyewitness News crew saw mailbox doors bent out of shape, boxes missing locks, and a missing mailroom door.

"It's not fair. It's not fair at all," tenant Rita Robledo said. She told ABC13 that she's been charged late fees for bills she never received because of the interrupted mail service.

Fellow tenant Daniel Espinoza said the problem began in early February.

"I kept seeing no mail coming in. I'm like, 'I should be getting bills,'" he said.

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"Our management here at our apartments are not sending out notices that we're not receiving the mail because of what's going on," Espinoza said.

A manager at the complex wouldn't tell Eyewitness News when repairs would be made.

A note from a letter carrier provided by a tenant indicates USPS has been asking the complex about repairs since mid-February.

"That's why people are leaving left and right," Robledo said.

Attorney Ernie Garcia said renters have a right to a working mailbox.

He said it's important to notify your landlord of the problem in writing and allow at least a week for them to fix it.

"With one notice in writing and then with a second notice in writing, you can essentially file what's called a repair and remedy claim with a local justice court," Garcia said.

The court could ultimately order your landlord to make repairs; if you can't afford the court fees, you can waive them.

Tenants told Eyewitness News that mail is currently being delivered to the leasing office but that they have to sort through it themselves. It leaves open the possibility that someone could take another person's mail.

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