Atlantans Battle Olympic-Sized Rents Landlords Taking Advantage Of Booked Hotel Rooms
The news came in a note slipped under Dan Boling’s door: The landlord was subleasing his $475-a-month apartment to Olympic visitors for $3,000 a month.
Intown Properties Inc. told the phone company employee he could pay $3,000-a-month rent from May through August, or move out and receive a share of the sublease money.
“I support the Olympics,” Boling said. “I bought an Olympic license tag. I bought an Olympic brick. And this is the thanks I get.”
With the Olympics still a year away and virtually all of Atlanta’s 50,000 hotel rooms booked, officials are worried that some landlords will take advantage of the housing shortage to demand steep rent increases.
Intown has come under fire for rent-gouging from politicians, editorial writers, other landlords and the head of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games - all worried that Atlanta’s reputation for Southern hospitality will be tarnished.
Two apartment managers took out ads in the newspaper this week pledging not to impose excessive rent increases next summer and condemning rent-gouging as “ugly and perverse.”
Intown owner Melton Harrell, who has several properties near downtown, where most of the games will be held, declined requests for interviews.
On Thursday, Intown said in a statement that it will soon announce a modified plan to let tenants voluntarily participate in the plan. The company wouldn’t elaborate.
Under the original plan, the tenants would get 30 percent of the higher rent but would be liable for injuries or damage involving the temporary tenants.
The Atlanta Apartment Association, which represents about two-thirds of the 300,000 multi-family apartments in Atlanta, has pledged to offer standard lease renewals and not impose excessive rent increases. Intown is not a member of the association.
On Monday, the City Council passed a largely symbolic resolution condemning price gouging by landlords.
Some Intown tenants are seeking legislation to bar price gouging. The Legislature passed a law last year barring hotels from overcharging during the Olympics, but state law prohibits cities from enacting rent control.
The Legislature convenes Monday, but legislators don’t expect to take up rent-gouging because all attention is focused on a court order to redraw congressional districts.
State Sen. Ron Slotin believes the problem is limited to Intown and a few other small landlords. But he is still compiling complaints from renters.
“It’s ridiculous. We’ve got to fight this,” said Bob Hovey, who got together with Boling and other tenants to form a protest group. “We’ll carry it all the way through the Olympics. We’ll be demonstrating right outside these apartments.”
Hovey said that since he started leading the protests, he was notified by Intown that his lease won’t be renewed next month. He said he doesn’t know where he will move.