Landlord faces backlash after kicking out tenant for complaints of heavy flooding: 'It does raise … suspicion'

One of the primary benefits of renting over buying a home is the maintenance burden, as landlords are typically responsible for repairs and addressing issues such as recurring flooding.

However, an Atlanta man recently encountered the worst of both worlds, according to WSB.

Each time it rained in Atlanta, "several inches" of water would accumulate in Ernesto Taylor's apartment. Taylor repeatedly raised the issue with the property management company overseeing his unit, much as a tenant would approach a landlord.

Eventually, the property management company did respond — with a termination notice.

Taylor told the television station that his repeated requests for repairs went entirely unacknowledged, and he ultimately advised his landlord that the routine indoor flooding was untenable and urgent.

"It was when I finally started really saying, 'I cannot wait any longer; it's been three, four months.' That's when I got the sudden letter of termination of lease," he said.

Taylor received a letter from Braden Fellman, the property management company handling the Montif by Morningside apartments. It was dated Feb. 10 and terminated his lease effective Tuesday, effectively serving as a 30-day notice to vacate.

WSB contacted Braden Fellman about Taylor's situation and received a statement in response to their inquiry, claiming that the anticipated duration of repairs forced their hand. 

"In order to complete the repairs in question, the contractor requires that the unit be vacated for an extended period," the company wrote.

Sasan Nematbakhsh is a landlord-tenant attorney in Atlanta, and he said the timing of the lease termination letter was at best iffy, given Taylor's repeated, ignored maintenance requests. 

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"Anytime I sense a tenant raises issues of repair, and ultimately, at some point, the landlord [says], 'We've had enough, you need to vacate the premises,' it does raise that suspicion," Nematbakhsh explained to WSB.

Nematbakhsh noted that under Georgia law, landlords aren't required to "provide alternative housing." 

But Taylor said he wasn't given "any kind of accommodation, any consideration" aside from 30 days to find a new place to live, adding insult to injury because the flooding was his landlord's responsibility to correct, not his.

"I need help getting everything out of here, and I need some backpay, some abatement for all of this," he lamented to WSB.

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