95-year-old woman threatened with eviction for 'socially distanced' visits with granddaughter

Klara Kharkats, a 95-year-old woman living in Redondo Beach, Calif., is facing eviction from her apartment for visits she has from her balcony with her granddaughter every second week. They chat, Kharkats from her balcony, her granddaughter below.

Rozanna Hndrich used to bring her kids over and sit with her for a few hours on the weekends whenever she could to spend time with her grandmother.

However, now with the pandemic, the family feels it is too risky to come in, so she meets with her from the sidewalk below, so that they can still have at least some kind of visit and human interaction, according to CBS Local of Los Angeles.

"I even had all their toys set up at her apartment so they wouldn't get bored there," commented Handrich of the visits. "I would just sit with her for a few hours every weekend."

"We are just really scared to get her sick. None of us want to be the reason anything happens to her."

This has been going on like this ever since the pandemic started, until now when Kharkats received a letter from the building management. The letter reads, in part:

"We have received complaints regarding excessive noise coming from your unit…Please have your guest come and visit inside your unit... Continued violation of your lease ruled and regulations will result in further action which may include eviction."

GK Management, the company that administers the apartments where Kharkats lives, released the following statement:

"We recognize the importance of families maintaining contact with their loved ones, particularly during this unprecedented time of COVID. We regret the tone of the notice our manager sent to Ms. Kharats, which was taken from a form letter we send to tenants with chronic noise issues. We have sent a rescission notice to her this morning and apologize for the misunderstanding."

"The notice, which was prompted by complaints from other tenants, should have been more sensitive and spelled out the solution more clearly. We encourage family members to continue visiting their grandmother while maintaining CDC guidelines of wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. Her health and theirs will be preserved by following those recommendations. In this case, we encourage the family to use their cell phones instead of yelling from the sidewalk."