Alexis Scott says her Destrehan Avenue apartment in Harvey had holes in the walls, mold in the bathroom, a broken front window and a gap beneath the front door big enough to let outside air in. After seven months of complaints and more than $1,000 spent on an air-conditioning technician who never fixed a thermostat stuck reading over 90 degrees, Scott stopped paying rent — and her landlord evicted her.
Scott told FOX 8 that even with the thermostat set to 50 degrees, it continued reading over 90. Fed up and unable to keep paying for repairs herself, she admits she stopped sending rent to landlord Cuong Nguyen, who then evicted her. Scott and her seven-year-old daughter are now staying with relatives while they search for a new place to live.
Landlord's Wife Stood In, Fixes Promised
Nguyen didn't show up to Scott's eviction hearing last month — his wife and property co-owner, Kathy Le, represented him instead, per the station's report. Nguyen had previously responded to Scott's repair complaints by offering reimbursement from her rent or promising to send someone to fix things, the outlet reported. Le told the station that maintenance workers handle repairs, that reported issues are checked out, and that repair costs are deducted from rent.
Nguyen did not respond to FOX 8's request for an interview. Jefferson Parish inspectors, meanwhile, never went inside Scott's unit at all — they only inspected the exterior of the four-unit building, citing it for siding disrepair, overgrown vegetation and yard debris.
Why Inspectors Never Checked Her Unit
Liza Caluda, Jefferson Parish's code enforcement and compliance director, said the parish lacks specific laws allowing entry into an occupied home for code inspection, a limitation she contrasted with how New Orleans handles rental complaints. Unlike New Orleans, where code enforcement inspectors routinely cite interior rental violations, as Caluda told the station, Jefferson Parish code enforcement can only cite interior conditions tied to specific issues like no hot water or no working air conditioning or heat.
Nguyen was ordered to attend a Jefferson Parish code enforcement hearing of his own, scheduled one week after Scott's eviction hearing — but he didn't show up to that one either, the report said. Le again appeared in his place and agreed to pay a $500 fine for what the parish termed recurring violations, plus $150 in hearing costs.
Photos Said Repairs Were Done — Cameras Found Otherwise
Inspectors had recorded that photographs showed the cited violations had been addressed. But when FOX 8 crews went back to look, they found a hole still visible in Scott's former window frame and in the building's roof soffit. After the station raised the discrepancy with Caluda, she said her team would go back out to re-inspect the building.
Le told FOX 8 that she and her husband own eight properties across Orleans and Jefferson parishes. New Orleans code records show a history of complaints at another property the couple owns on W. Coronet Court, including 26 code violations in 2021 alone, additional complaints in 2023 and one more this past August, according to the outlet's review.
What Louisiana Law Says Tenants Can Do
Christopher Kerrigan, an attorney focusing on medical-legal partnership at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, said Louisiana law requires landlords to maintain their property and make necessary repairs unless the tenant caused the problem. Under Louisiana Civil Code Article 2691, a lessor is bound during the lease to make repairs necessary to keep the property suitable for its intended use, except for repairs the tenant is responsible for.
If a landlord fails to make those repairs within a reasonable time after a tenant demands them, Louisiana Civil Code Article 2694 allows the tenant to have the repairs made and seek immediate reimbursement — or deduct the cost from rent. But Kerrigan warned that tenants who simply withhold rent instead are likely to end up in eviction court and get evicted, leaving them at a disadvantage when landlords refuse repairs and tenants are forced to arrange fixes themselves.
A Court System Built for Speed, Not Scrutiny
Scott's case moved through the kind of venue a recent Verite News report scrutinized statewide: Louisiana's 390 justices of the peace, who handle evictions, small claims and wage garnishments part-time and aren't required to keep detailed records or follow standard rules of evidence. That report, built on an analysis of more than 11,000 pages of eviction records and 3,400 financial disclosure forms along with hearings observed at five justice of the peace courts, found that roughly one out of every 13 renter households faced eviction filings in 2025 across the states and metro areas examined.
