Mary Lemus was facing a possible city fine after a plumbing company failed to get a permit for a finished job. That changed after KENS 5 got involved.

SAN ANTONIO — When Mary Lemus found out her tenant was having a plumbing issue in early February, she called Roto-Rooter right away. She signed a contract with the plumbing company back on February 9.

Lemus never would have guessed she would be facing a city citation one month later.

Roto-Rooter did send subcontractor Old South Texas Plumbing out to do the job, which involved a broken pipe under her home, and that contractor did complete a repair.

The problem: Neither Roto-Rooter nor Old South Texas Plumbing got the city permits needed to do the job when they started.

San Antonio Code Enforcement then issued a “Stop Work Order” at the property which said permits must be pulled before the job continued.

The subcontractor still completed the job without the permits anyway. Lemus said that triggered an investigation that put her at risk of a citation. City officials later told Lemus she would face a fine if the situation continued without a permit but they could not tell her how much it would be.

At the same time, only a licensed plumber could pull those permits and she still couldn’t get Roto-Rooter or Old South Texas Plumbing to do it.

Finally, she called KENS 5.

“We need help. We don’t know what to do,” Lemus said. “We called KENS 5.”

KENS 5 then contacted the local Roto-Rooter employee who signed the contract with Lemus. KENS 5 also contacted Roto-Rooter’s corporate office about the permit issue.

Roto-Rooter Director of Public Relations Paul Abrams immediately responded the next morning, which was a Friday, and started looking into the matter.

By the end of that same day, both Roto-Rooter and their subcontractor applied for the needed permits and got those permits approved. By the following Monday, a required engineering report was submitted to the City of San Antonio.

Abrams later told KENS 5 he had multiple conversations with Roto-Rooter managers at the San Antonio office about this issue.

Abrams said, from what he could gather, their subcontractor started the job but then needed to contact a structural and plumbing engineer for an assessment and waited for the assessment before getting a permit. Then the subcontractor finished part of the job but waited for a foundation company to make a repair. Then the subcontractor found out that the job would also require a Flood Plain Development Permit.

The subcontractor could have attempted to pull a plumbing permit before the engine got involved but did not. The subcontractor did get the permit the day after KENS 5 got involved.

Regardless, Abrams later said the correct permits had now been pulled and the City of San Antonio had inspected the work so the issue was resolved:

“The city of San Antonio sent us a letter of completion yesterday (3/25/26) confirming that everything is in order. Roto-Rooter has informed Ms. Lemus of this development,” Abrams said.

KENS 5 later confirmed with San Antonio Code Enforcement that the job had been inspected and Lemus would no longer be facing a fine.

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