AUBURN – Martha Bennett retreated to the dryness of her bedroom, surrendering the kitchen to the brown water dripping from her ceiling.

“At least it’s warm in here,” she said, rolling her electric wheelchair across the threshold.

But she knew the warmth wouldn’t last. City officials had turned off the water to her building, 364 Main St. Without water, there would be no heat from the steam-powered radiators. More inspectors were due soon, and they planned to condemn the whole building.

She hoped she’d be out of it before they did.

“It’s just been a nightmare,” she said Friday.

Bennett, 87, and her son, Peter, found a new apartment on Chestnut Street, thanks to friends, the city and their new landlord.

But the way it happened left Martha bitter, especially toward her old landlord.

“I want something bad to happen to David Thompson,” she said. “He was never a good landlord. He never fixed anything, but expected us to do it, I guess. The only time you could see him was when he was collecting rent.”

In fact, she last saw Thompson on Feb. 1 when he collected her $700 rent.

“Then, he just disappeared,” she said.

Work not completed

City building, fire and electrical inspectors would like a word with Thompson as well. Although no charges have been being filed, Fire Inspector Gary Simard said he contacted police in South Portland to help locate Thompson. No luck.

As of Friday afternoon, Thompson could not be reached by the Sun Journal, either.

“It happens sometimes with these older buildings. People can’t put any more money into them, and they just walk away,” Simard said. He’s not sure that’s what happened on Main Street.

“But it’s happened before,” he said.

Problems began last spring, Simard said. City officials and code inspectors had asked Thompson to do some maintenance work on the building, and he did.

“Usually, it was just enough to keep us satisfied,” said electrical inspector Charlie DeAngelis.

Thompson had begun renovations on the second-floor unit above Bennett and her son. He started to replace the windows and tear out the walls, but then stopped. Simard said he didn’t have the proper work permits to continue and left the unit wide open.

“We finally convinced him last month to go up and put some plastic on the windows,” Simard said. Otherwise, the second-floor unit was wide open to the cold air.

Burst pipes

The building’s heating oil tank ran dry Tuesday night hours before a huge snowstorm hit the area. It stayed cold until Thursday, when the city’s General Assistance department paid for 100 gallons of fuel for the tank.

The heating pipes on the wide-open second floor had frozen. They burst soon after the heat resumed.

“I was in bed and I just started hearing the dripping,” said Peter Bennett, 52. Auburn fire crews responded to the building about 3 a.m. Friday to stem the leak but they warned Bennett that a condemnation order was pending.

“That was obvious,” he said. “There’s no way we could stay here.”

The two finally found a new landlord and Peter was in the process of signing a new lease and getting his mother moved in.

“One way or the other, we’re going to be moved out tonight,” he said. “And we’ll be into a much better place.”