Residents concerned for health, HOA response after condo floods for second time in three years
WXIA-TV Atlanta
Melissa Lee and Adrianne Haney
21 July 2017

Atlanta—Residents are demanding answers after a sprinkler pipe burst and flooded the inside of a popular downtown Atlanta condominium community, not once, but twice in the past three years.

People living in at Twelve Centennial Park are not only concerned about the mold that they say is now growing inside their homes, but they also say they're being forced to pay out of pocket for the repairs.

The pipe that burst most recently in May wasn't located in a unit. It's in the stairwell of the 11th floor, and as part of the condo's main infrastructure, residents say it should be covered by the building's insurance policy.

But one condo owner, Zahra Mohammed, told 11Alive this is now the second time in three years that they've had to deal with flooded apartments and common areas.

"I was hoping it was for a different issue, but it turned out to be the same thing," Mohammed said.

In a previous incident in 2014, Mohammed said the same pipe burst, but on the 16th floor. It caused damage to 10 floors—50 units in all. This time around, though, the clean-up and insurance process is much more significant.

"We did end up using our personal insurance before, but I didn't know. I was too naive to know what was right or wrong," Mohammed told 11Alive. "But this year, I was like, OK, this is not our fault, at all. So why are we using it? This is not on us."

11Alive's Melissa Lee went to the building management to hold the powerful accountable. According to Twelve Centennial's own insurance policy, if the damage exceeds $25,000, which in this case it did, the homeowners association is supposed to take care of the repairs.

But Mohammed said the association, run by Homeowners Advantage, is not following their own guidelines. "They gave an estimate of $226 to do the repairs in my unit," Mohammad said.

Those repairs allegedly included reusing broken and splintered baseboards. Mohammed, just one of the seven unit owners 11Alive spoke to while investigating this story, said she still needs an estimated $3,000 to replace her damaged floors -- a specific brand and type that no longer exists.

And because the clean-up process is still ongoing 75 days later, residents, including Mohammed, are beginning to become concerned for their health.

"The mitigation company that is as vendor with the condo building insurance company decided to leave all the flooring down," Mohammed said. "The only thing they did the first day was remove the baseboards, but they didn't remove the flooring. So by May 20, 2017, I took it upon myself to tear up my own flooring because the smell was so bad."

What Mohammed said she found was mold, and lots of it.

"The plate presented a variety of organisms," said Richard Billups, the director of Air Allergen and Mold Testing. "These organisms normally should not be there. They are there because there is generally high water activity, or there is water damage."

Exposed to that long enough, Billups said some people could develop "respiratory distress." It can even go as far as developing into asthma and emphysema.

It's an uphill battle in the short-term for Mohammed, who said she has a compromised immune system. Long-term, she says if these issues aren't addressed, she will take a financial hit on her biggest asset -- the condo.

"The reason why I'm voicing my concern over it is because I do not want the values to continue to plummet," Mohammed said. "I'm hoping we have change in this building so this accident doesn't occur again so in the future, I can sell my unit without any issues."

11Alive reached out to Homeowners Advantage for comment, and they sent a short response stating they will continue to act timely and diligently. They also said actions taken are consistent with their governing documents and Georgia state law, however none of the seven owners interviewed believe the group is acting in good faith per the association's policies and the Georgia Condominium Act.

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