'Take the House, Give My Money Back'

Denise Mitsuma and her 10-year-old daughter have been living out of suitcases for more than two months.

Mitsuma moved out of her home at 19 Walker Farm Lane, the first affordable housing development in Barrington, on Dec. 8 after the water table rose and flooded her basement. She had moved into the brand new home only about three weeks before that.

Since mid-December, she has been fighting a running battle with West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation of Providence, which developed the affordable housing complex for Barrington.

At first, she wanted only for her new home to be cleaned up and made whole. Then she decided she wanted nothing to do with West Elmwood and asked for a refund of her money on two occasions, Dec. 13 and Jan. 10, through her attorney.

“No response,” she said.

Indeed, Mitsuma said, she was getting nowhere until Barrington town officials, who were contacted in early February, got involved. Town Manager Peter DeAngelis and Steve Martin, chairman of the Housing Board of Trustees, sat down with officials from West Elmwood on Tuesday afternoon, March 6, in Town Hall to try to reach a settlement.

“Denise is a town resident,” DeAngelis said. “We want to help her.” 

DeAngelis said the town asked West Elmwood to give Mitsuma exactly what she wants: a refund. DeAngelis had received no response as of late Wednesday afternoon.

Jared Rhodes, deputy director for West Elmwood and the person trying to sell the homes in Walker Farm Lane, did tell Patch, however, late Wednesday afternoon: “We’re trying to figure out a way to get what she wants.”

“I think we all realize she doesn’t want to be in that house,” Rhodes said. “I think the best thing to do is to get her out of that house.”

"I've been hearing that for two months," said Mitsuma, who moved out of the home for good when mold began sprouting on the basement walls and ceiling joists and began to circulate in the hot air heating system.

“We both have asthma and mold allergies,” she said. “We haven’t been able to move back in. We’ve been living with friends. I drive from Westport every day to take my daughter to school (St. Luke’s in Barrington).”

Living with financial, emotional stress

The financial expense is one thing, she said. The emotional distress is another. And she has racked up legal fees with an attorney she didn't expect to have to hire.

“The town has been great,” Mitsuma said. “DeAngelis and Martin have been on my side, trying to work with West Elmwood. I couldn’t get them to set up a meeting with me to reach a settlement.”

Rhodes said West Elmwood has not been ignoring the problem.

“We’re not trying to run away from anything,” he said. “But we need to know where we go from here.”

Rhodes said he got the Barrington Fire Department in the house almost immediately to pump out the water, and he got a plumber in the house the next day to install sump pumps.

“The water table came up,” he said. “The vacant house next door had the same problem. We’re willing to do what we can.”

But reaching an equitable settlement and rectifying the problem has been slow going – if going at all. Rhodes blames the inability to get access to the house as a major obstacle. And there have been communication problems, he said.

“If we can’t get in,” Rhode said. “We can’t get in. We’re trying to resolve the matter. But to remediate it, we need to do the tests (for mold).”

Mistuma disputes his claim that West Elmwood has not been able to get into the house.

“I have documented at least 18 times that they had access to the house,” she said. “I know it’s more than that, but I can document 18 times. I even left the basement door open for them.”

She also said that Rhodes would not allow her to give his cell phone number to her attorney, Greg Carrera of Barrington, who was given authority by Mitsuma to deal with West Elmwood and arrange access.

“What does that tell you?” she said.

Mistuma also says that West Elmwood has a report she paid for on the mold. She gave a copy of that report to Patch. It says that there were significant signs of mold and fungal growth on Jan. 18.

“They already have an inspection report,” Mitsuma said. “I paid for an inspection from a certified inspector. I’ve sent it to them twice.”

Rhodes said, though, that her report is already dated. It shows mold levels in January and now it is March, he said. A new test needs to be done to solve the problem before anyone lives in that house.

Willing to swap homes at one time

Mitsuma said at first she was willing to move into another home in the affordable housing development -- if West Elmwood was willing to swap houses.

“She brought that up,” said Rhodes. “We’re willing to do what we can do. But that option may not be feasible because of the costs of closing."

Mitsuma said she did receive a written offer to swap houses on Feb. 1. But it did not include any payment by West Elmwood for costs of damage, legal fees or the closing costs.

“What I really want is for them to buy me out,” Mitsuma said. “Take the house and give my money back.”

There is a one-year warranty on the house, she said.

"Why don't they go to the insurance company?" she said.

Mitsuma said the fact that her house and the one next door had water in the basement certainly has created a reluctance in her to move into another house in the development.

“I don’t think she’ll ever feel comfortable in the house,” agrees Rhodes. “I can’t guarantee that it won’t happen again. There was no indication that water would be an issue before.”

“We’ve looked at the engineering and the architecture,” he said. “It was built the way it was supposed to be built.”

But, he said, it appears that the expansion joint between the concrete floor and concrete walls has breaks in it. That allowed a rising water table to flood the basement instead of flowing around it.

Meanwhile, Mitsuma has been racking up a lot of new debt for legal fees, gasoline and car expenses for drives back and forth to Westport, and other expenses.

“West Elmwood continues to drag their feet,” she said. “I contacted the executive director to set up a meeting on Feb. 14. Three days later she got back to me and asked for a mold inspection report instead, not a meeting.

“What I wanted was a meeting to see if we can come up with a settlement,” she said.

Given the Tuesday meeting, Mitsuma said on Wednesday, she finally has some hope that West Elmwood will agree to refund her money.

"Just make me whole," she said. "That's all I want."