Senior apartment building in Maywood, Illinois, went without hot water for 10 days

Hot water is finally flowing again at a Maywood senior apartment building, after residents say they went 10 days without it, but they say their frustration isn't over.

For the first time since Sept. 6, the seniors calling Garden House of Maywood Apartments home can turn on their faucets and get hot water in their 10-story building with more than 140 units.

"We've been dealing with this for 10 days; no hot water at all," tenant Eddie Mae Ferguson said.

Tenants showed CBS News Chicago a building notice from Sept. 8, when they were told a licensed vendor was addressing the lack of hot water and the specialized work couldn't be completed immediately.

Everyday routines like taking a shower and washing dishes became a challenge.

"I've been bathing heating up water on the stove, heating up water to wash dishes. It's just crazy. It don't make no sense," Ferguson said.

Metropolitan Tenants Organization attorney Philip DeVon said, when an essential service like hot water isn't provided, tenants must provide their landlord with a 24-hour written notice of the problem, and the landlord has 24 hours to fix it.

"If it's not fixed in 24 hours, the tenant can either pay a reduced amount of rent, and the law says that the amount that they can reduce should reasonably reflect the diminished value of the unit due to the lack of hot water," he said.

Tenant Linda Blunt said she asked the building manager about a rent reduction during the hot water outage, but he just laughed.

"He laughed when I said it," she said.

While at the property, a building manager declined to comment. CBS News Chicago also spotted the Village of Maywood Code Department at the building after the hot water was restored.

DeVon said renters also should have had the option of substitute housing and not paying rent until the hot water problem was fixed.

"Alternatively, every tenant in this case would have the right to file a lawsuit against the landlord and recover damages, as well as attorney's fees, reasonable attorney's fees," he said.

Tenants who spoke to CBS News Chicago said they weren't offered substitute housing.

The building's management company, Evergreen Real Estate Group, said it was focused on getting the water issue fixed as fast as possible.

"The well-being of our residents is our top priority, and our on-site management team takes all concerns seriously. Upon discovering the unanticipated issue with the property's boiler, we immediately took steps to have a new one purchased and installed. The new system is now up and running, and hot water service has been fully restored," a management company spokesperson said in a statement.

Regarding a manager laughing at a tenant asking for a rent reduction, they would not comment on that conversation.

They also would not say if tenants would be getting a rent reduction.