MONTGOMERY, WV (WOWK) – Two Montgomery residents received an eviction notice from their landlord yesterday as they wait for their collapsed ceiling to be repaired.

Last Wednesday morning, July 19, Linda Clow and Eric Ferguson said a part of their ceiling collapsed in their living room. When that happened, more than a dozen pigeons came flying out, and piles of the birds’ droppings fell from the ceiling. The ceiling was patched up last week, but has not been completely sealed.

In an effort to speed up the process, Clow and Ferguson filed a complaint with Montgomery City Hall. From there, the Montgomery Fire Chief and a code enforcement official inspected the apartment last week.

The landlord, Barry Blackburn, cites City Hall’s involvement as a reason for evicting the tenants. In his letter, he also cites Clow and Ferguson calling 13 News to investigate the incident last week.

In the report from Montgomery City Hall, it lists the unpatched ceiling as just one of several safety concerns in the apartment that need to be repaired within the next 30 days. Those concerns also include a “spongy” and sagging bathroom floor, a hole in the wall behind the kitchen stove, a loose wire hanging from the ceiling connecting to the stove, and uncovered electrical outlets.

For the people who live there, they say they just want to get their normal life back and get the necessary repairs made.

“How can a landlord not fix stuff and not care about the tenants?” Ferguson asked. “Neglect in his duty, in his own lease, and get away with it.”

“If he was some kind of landlord he would be up here fixing things and not putting our health at risk,” Clow said. “Feces comes down falling to the floor all the time, we’re breathing that in as well as the mold. He hasn’t fixed this one bit like he should.”

Blackburn told 13 News that he expects to have the ceiling repaired by maintenance workers on Sunday morning, and the rest of the repairs cited in the report within the next ten days.