COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — From broken windows, to boarded-up buildings and crime, tenants at Colonial Village on the east side of Columbus have been forced to endure unsanitary, unsafe conditions.

But Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein says that’s about to change.

“When we started this journey with the court system, we announced that help is on the way, and now we can officially say ‘help is here,'” Klein said. “The receiver Bob Weiler has already been on site, a lot of the remediation for emergency code orders are in process as we speak. I know that receivership is in contact with security firms to bring them back on the Colonial Village campus.”

Klein anticipates that residents at the apartment complex on Rand Avenue will begin to see immediate changes as code violations for rat and rodent infestations, bedbugs, lack of water, and heating get addressed, as well as safety and security problems. Emergency violations — ones that truly threaten life and safety — are being addressed right now, Klein said.

If you are a tenant at Colonial Village and your premises needs repairs, take your complaint to the on-site property office and file it there during business hours. The receivers are still in the process of setting up a phone number and online portal for requests, Klein’s office said.

NBC4: How do the repairs get funded?

Klein: The receiver is paying for all of this up front. And so all the repairs will be done and paid for by the receiver.

On the flip side, in the interests of transparency, all of the rents will go into a pocket of money that the receiver can draw from to be able to be reimbursed. Which is the way it should work for any landlord-tenant.

You pay the landlord, and the landlord then provides you with a safe and sanitary place to live. The receiver will also be able to recoup expenses upon sale as well.

NBC4: But how do we know the tenants there will be cared for?

Klein: Well, I think there’s a couple things. The first is this is a court-appointed receiver. So the court system is still involved both at the Common Pleas level with the receivership.

But there’s also a pending nuisance abatement case that I filed and my office filed, and we basically have — for lack of a better word — the legal blessing of whether the sale can take place. Because our nuisance abatement case will not go away to whoever inherits this property.

We will be on that person’s back making sure that he or she and the new ownership group will continue the great work that the receivership is going to do in the short term for the people of Colonial Village.