Family lives months without A/C after metro Atlanta landlord struggles with repairs

ATLANTA — Air conditioning can be essential to life during the middle of a sweltering Georgia summer. It is something Brandon Womack’s family knows too well.

Womack lives in a home owned by Invitation Homes, one of the largest corporate landlords currently operating in the metro Atlanta area. Womack says back in May, the air conditioning broke down. So, he called the management company for repairs.

“For two months, it was “it’s fixed, it’s good to go.” Then they would leave, and within 24 hours, we were calling them out again,” Womack said.

Womack provided channel two with emails of numerous service requests that eventually led to delays or unsuccessful fixes.

Instead of relief, the family dealt with 80-92-degree temperatures inside their home.

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“It has been a trial,” Womack said, “You have a family of 4 living in this house where it’s 80-90 degrees? That is where the problem is.”

Womack’s problems are not unique.

“It’s very frustrating, but as a researcher, I’m not surprised much because that’s what I am seeing from the data,” Georgia Tech Professor Brian An said.

An has tried to study how corporations do as landlords.

He analyzed code enforcement complaints and found large corporate landlords saw complaints five times higher than traditional homeownership.

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“It constantly repeatedly appears in the data,” An said.

An believes the number of issues may be underreported, as most renters will not file a code complaint against their landlord.

An believes numerous factors contribute to the higher rates. He says corporations usually buy cheaper homes that may have existing issues. He points out that most corporations rely on middlemen to carry out fixes, and there is no centralized location for the properties that are all over the metro.

In a statement, Invitation Homes said:

“Invitation Homes is proud to provide a desirable housing option to a growing number of individuals who prefer the flexibility and choice associated with leasing. Our dedicated teams of local associates maintain multiple touchpoints with residents to ensure a positive leasing experience throughout their entire time with us.

“During a resident’s lease, we routinely maintain our homes to a high standard. Residents can schedule maintenance requests through their maintenance portal and through the Invitation Homes Maintenance app. We send timely updates on requests to residents and work to resolve outstanding maintenance issues as quickly as possible. Through our ProCare program, we also send maintenance professionals to each home twice a year for proactive maintenance visits. We are proud to report a 4.73 average rating on post-maintenance surveys as of 2Q 2024.”

Eventually, Invitation Homes provided two temporary AC units for the Womack. He says the models were designed to cover a total of 200 sq ft of their 1600 sq ft house. The overworked machines eventually ran up their electric bill to more than $800.

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“It was outrageous,” Womack said.

This month, Brandon’s air conditioning seems to have finally been fixed, and says Invitation Homes promised “concessions.”

However, despite telling him he would learn what those “concessions” are this week, he says he never received a response.

“I haven’t gotten what I paid for. Treat your customers right, treat your customers like customers, and do not treat them like numbers,” Womack said.

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