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Elevator Fix To Strand Elderly Couple In Apt.

97-Year-Old Says Property Manager Told Them To Stock Up, Hunker Down

POSTED: 7:19 am CST February 8, 2010
UPDATED: 10:13 am CST February 8, 2010

An elderly couple with disabilities said they will be trapped in their Tamarac apartment beginning Monday because of an elevator repair, WPLG-TV in Miami reported.

Murray Kandel, 97, uses a walker, and his 88-year-old wife, Shirley, uses a wheelchair. The couple live in a second-floor apartment.

Beginning Monday, the only elevator in their building will be taken out of service for up to six weeks as the building association replaces the old elevator.

"We rely on it daily," Murray Kandel said.

The Kandels said the property manager told them to stock up and hunker down.

"My mother-in-law absolutely is trapped in this apartment without the elevator," said Laurie Kandel.

The Kandels are on a fixed income, and they say a hotel is too costly. Their children don't have the accommodations to take them in.

The building's property manager, Randy Seeman, hung up on WPLG-TV when a reporter tried to get a comment.

An attorney representing the property said she had nothing to say on the issue.

"This is not our estimate, it's the elevator company's estimate. We told them to try and make arrangements. Otherwise, the maintenance man will try and help carry up packages and help them down. (Anything) more than that we can't do," said B.B. Guttenberg, who is on the board of directors.

Matthew Dietz, who specializes in fair housing law, said that since Shirley Kandel is in a wheelchair, the association is required to make reasonable accommodations for her under the law.

"They have to do something, either find them a place in which they can get in and out (that) is acceptable to them or find some alternate accommodations for them," said Dietz.

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