ATLANTA — Two new bills in the legislature would take on deplorable conditions in rental properties. One bill requires upkeep. Another would keep track of crime that happens on apartment complex properties.
The legislation highlights how little protection there is now in state law for rental properties and their tenants.
"I got leaks. They said they fixed it. That was like four months and they still haven’t fixed it up to this day," said Tomiko Freeman, who lives in an apartment complex on Cleveland Avenue SW.
It is, she says, substandard at best.
"I know a friend of mine down here," Freeman said, pointing. "She had a hole in her ceiling. And to this day, they still haven’t fixed it."
Atlanta councilman Antonio Lewis said he used to live here.
"Sometimes we need the law to stand up for us," Lewis said in an interview with 11Alive Friday.
He supports the bills in the legislature that would make landlords more accountable for conditions in rental properties like this one.
House Bill 344 requires landlords to:
- Maintain weatherproof, intact structures;
- Maintain plumbing that works with hot and cold running water;
- Heating, ventilation, electricity and working locks
- Aggressive efforts to contain vermin and dangerous substances like toxic mold and lead.
Another bill, HB 329 requires apartment complex landlords to:
- Compile data about serious crimes ranging from murder and assault to drug crimes, and
- Report the data to residents every six months.
"If I had known I’d be hearing gunshots pretty much every other night," said Freeman, who said she moved in about a year ago. "My dog, he’s crying, he hears the shots then he comes jump in my lap."
Lewis said the bills would add transparency and accountability for the often unseen owners of properties like this one.
"I want you to make the most money you can make. But don’t take advantage of people," Lewis said.
No Republican lawmakers have signed on to either House bill. They would argue that the free market should largely cover property standards – which backers of the legislation say hasn’t worked for years on distressed properties.