Will our balconies collapse?
In our Georgetown Condo Association in Atlanta, Georgia, about one hundred wooden balconies were demolished and replaced by a contractor (HomeCraft Technologies) with new steel and concrete balconies with only unheard of one-year warranty.
The association paid about $750,000 for this job. Additionally, the HomeCraft did not obtain the permits from the county for about 55 of the 100 balconies and all 100 balconies did not get a County inspection, which is a violation against the County rules and against the contract between the Association and the contractor. The new balconies are built with code violations: on some units the flashing between the building and the balconies is not installed, which caused leaks to the units below and damages to the structure of the buildings.
Paint was peeling within one week after the job was done, which shows extremely poor quality of work. The paint should last for about 7 years according to Ray Engineering report. The bolts and screws are not installed by code. This situation has put the lives of the residents in danger. For a year and a half I wrote to the Board of the Association, to Heritage Property Management Services, Inc. (the management company hired by Georgetown Association) and to the owners, trying to arrange for the contractors to fix these balconies, but all my requests and suggestions were ignored.
Instead of being acknowledged by the Board and Heritage I was harassed, insulted, falsely accused, illegally fined and assessed for a large amount of money.
Instead of asking the contractor to pay the county for permits and obtain county inspections, the Association paid about twenty times more money then the county fees required for the permits and inspections to Heritage for so called supervision.
As a Board Director I feel that the Association should not have paid Heritage. I feel responsible for the Association and I feel I must report these violations to the government.in the beginning of March I reported to Dekalb Code Enforcement Police about the balconies and at the end of April Heritage and the Association received a warning notice from the police department about code violations.
Now, seven months after the violation notice, nothing has been done to the balconies and I did not receive any answers to my many letters and emails to Dekalb Code Enforcement Police, Heritage and the rest of the Board about this serious problem but immediately after the violation notice, my husband and I received a letter from Rubin Roy Cobb an attorney full of false accusations and threats. As I found out Rubin Roy Cobb, the self-proclaimed Georgetown Association attorney is a close relative of Gavin Cobb (the President of Heritage).
My husband and I were illegally assessed $75 for this letter!!! In the Association meetings the Board and Heritage falsely blamed me of wrongdoing and attacked my reputation. Most recently they illegally fined me $250 for simply asking the workers to discontinue using the electricity from the outside receptacles of mine unit.By the contract the contractor should provide a generator. Another $250 fine was imposed on me for asking the workers-who were on the balcony which doesn't have the flashing, permit and inspection from the county, didn't speak English, and had no uniform, nor a permit or work order as proof that they should be doing the work. They assessed me, a Board director on duty, in order to scare me and/or to stop me from pursuing these matters.
As we have seen in different states, including Georgia balconies collapse and if our balconies collapse the Association would be held responsible for all personal and property damages. Heritage and the rest of the Board ignoring the Dekalb County, the Permit and Inspection Department, the Code Enforcement Police Department. They demonstrate they can do whatever they wish. How does contractor and Heritage get away with this? Who is involved in a cover-up?
For the safety of the residents of our Association, in my opinion the County must sue and punish company, which ignored to obtain permits and inspections. Additionally, Dekalb County must investigate Heritage Property Management Services, Inc., which manages many properties in Atlanta and is possibly using the system of not obtaining the required permits and inspections from the counties while collecting large amounts of money for so called supervision'.
Jane
Chamblee, Georgia
U.S.A.
0 comments