BATON ROUGE - Residents of a Lee Drive apartment complex in Baton Rouge had their water shut off on Tuesday.

This came two weeks after the city-parish had sent letters to residents stating that water would be shut off on Jan. 27. The city-parish said the landlord had not paid the Sewer/Solid Waste User Fee in full for months.

Residents of the 5 East Apartments told WBRZ that it has been tough to get answers from their leasing office.

"They got an email saying well, we're going to have water, don't worry about the notice. Well, we don't have water, so we're going to worry about the notice," 5 East resident Courtnei Haynes said.

When residents went to turn on their sinks, showers, and tubs on Tuesday, nothing came out.

"I gotta bathe myself, I'm thirsty, I'm hungry. I need water, and we ain't got no water, and then y'all don't answer the calls, you don't email people back, you don't do nothing," Haynes said.

For residents like college student Chris Robles, it created a hassle.

"I had classes, so I left pretty early. I had a class at 8 a.m., so I left at 8. Came back at 12 and tried to use the water, and I noticed it wasn't working. It's a real hassle now, it's costing me money, and I had to go out of my way and bum out on my friends and get them to help me out a little bit," Robles said.

The apartment complex is operated by Greengate Management. WBRZ obtained a message sent to 5 East residents around 3:00 p.m. stating that management anticipated the water would be back on by Wednesday. In addition, each unit would receive a $50 credit towards next month's rent.

Greengate claims that the Baton Rouge Water Company, which provides water to the complex, did not keep its promise to finalize an agreement and was not able to contact the utility on Monday, claiming it was closed due to the weather. Greengate also said that the BRWC provided very limited methods for payment.

WBRZ reached out to the Water Company, which sent a statement saying that it was open on Monday and was ready and able to respond to customers' needs during the severe weather events going on over the last few days.

Baton Rouge Water Company also claims that Greengate was given ample time between the notice and the disconnection for the payment to be made.

"Over here, we pay rent, and then when you pay rent, you pay the water and the sewage in it, so that's like an extra $50-60 added on top of our rent," Haynes said.

Residents were asked their thoughts about the messages from Greengate and Baton Rouge Water Company, saying they don't understand why this wasn't taken care of earlier.