Ray West of Southern Real Estate, which manages the low-income complex, said Monday that no formal action has been taken to evict tenants who continued occupying their apartments after the Oct. 31 closing date.

Residents said Larry Suitt, chairman of the Lincoln Hospital Foundation which owns the apartments, told them during a Nov. 1 telephone conversation that the apartments would remain open until January. As of Monday, though, tenant organizer Sendolo Diaminah said they had received no written confirmation or heard anything further from Suitt.

Deputy City Manager Keith Chadwell said he had been told that Suitt was considering allowing tenants to stay until January, on the condition that their back rents were paid up and “rents going ahead were paid in full.”

Chadwell also said he had been told the foundation was negotiating with a potential buyer for the complex.

“What I do not know is, how all those parts work together,” he said.

West, though, said he knew of no new developments in the Lincoln situation, and the Durham News’s attempts to contact Suitt were not successful.

Suitt had previously told The Durham News that “We just don’t want to go into this blind, sending the sheriff in” to evict remaining tenants. Tenants’ particular circumstances could influence how the foundation moves ahead to close the complex, he said.

Southern Real Estate and the Lincoln Hospital Foundation notified tenants Sept. 28 that they intended to terminate leases and close the 150-unit complex at the end of October. Some residents said that that did not give them enough time to find new housing and make moving arrangements.

City, county and nonprofit agencies organized assistance, but tenants who marched in protest Oct. 29 claimed the planned closing would leave 152 people homeless. The deadline came and went with more than 50 households still living in the apartments, though some had arranged to move out over the weekend.

According to City Councilman Steve Schewel, the Durham Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and other faith organizations are interested in further assisting Lincoln residents. The nonprofit Bless Durham is providing cash or moving logistics for about 30 residents, according to board member Dub Karriker, but its resources are depleted and many of its volunteers occupied with Hurricane Sandy relief projects.

The Lincoln Hospital Foundation intends to close the apartments because of “unfavorable financial conditions.” Foundation tax returns for 2010 and 2009 showed its expenses exceeding assets by more than $75,000. Tenants’ rent payments are the apartments’ only source of income, and according to the foundation and the apartments’ manager, many tenants were behind on their payments.

In August, city inspectors informed the owners of repairs they needed to make to comply with the housing code. The apartments also have a large unpaid water bill. The city, though, has pledged to leave the apartments’ water on as long as people are living there, despite the overdue bill.

“There may be some new variables in this equation, but I’m not certain the fortunes of the tenants have changed all that substantively,” Chadwell said.