Atlanta city council members want to hold negligent landlords accountable

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - For the past five years, Stephanie Wilks has endured poor living conditions at her apartment in southwest Atlanta.

Plumbing problems led to flooding in her bedroom, mold on the walls and on top of that, her air conditioning unit doesn’t work.

“There’s water everywhere and I keep reporting it and tell them to come and fix it and they keep getting new management like every six months and there’s still nothing done,” Wilks said.

According to council member Andrea Boone, it’s a common problem throughout Atlanta. As a result, she introduced legislation requesting that the Fulton County District Attorney investigate ways to criminally charge negligent landlords.

In Wilks case, the conditions are now impacting her family’s health.

“Yeah, my daughter has asthma, two of my grandkids have asthma and they just cough all night, cough all night,” Wilks said.

CBS46 tried to question management about the issues at the Royal Oaks Apartments, but the leasing office was closed during our visit on Thursday afternoon. We did learn a new management team took over this week and they told us they will be renovating more than 60-units at the complex.

Still, Wilks hopes Council Member Boone will take action to make sure conditions improve.

“If she can do something to help us, we will be happy,” Wilks said.

Council Member Boone said many of the landlords in Atlanta have become filthy rich on the backs of poor people and a lot of the property owners live out of state and even in Canada.

As a result, Boone will be speaking with the DA, City Solicitor and Atlanta Police on Friday to discuss a plan to address the issue.

Copyright 2022 WGCL. All rights reserved.