A Buckhead resident is fighting his apartment complex after being asked to move out months before his lease expires.
Je Wesley Day said management at the Darlington Apartments is retaliating against him for speaking out about crime in the building after he posted a warning to fellow residents on a flyer he shared in a group chat on social media. One of the members of the group printed the flyer and posted it around the building, Day said.
Darlington community manager Jerome Bell said Day isn’t being evicted for making negative comments about the apartments, but he wouldn’t comment on the specific reason for Day’s eviction.
“People write negative things about Darlington on its Facebook (page) and we’re not asking any of them to leave,” Bell said.
But, in a letter written to Day and provided to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bell said the tenant marred the apartment’s reputation and he was asked to move out by March.
In the past, Day said he has reported to management and police that his car windows were broken in the parking lot and burglary attempts were made. The most recent attempts came during the last week of December, when he was out of town.
Day said he has been harassed and stalked by unknown persons during the year and a half he’s lived in Buckhead.
He said the property managers said they couldn’t help, so Day took a stand by writing a warning and asking other residents for help.
“Be on high alert” Day wrote, asking neighbors to look for suspicious activity and report strangers at the 14-floor apartment. “I am encouraging all residents of the Darlington to commit to community policing and report any knowledge of these crimes to Atlanta police.”
He said he posted his notice to an online group for residents, and that one of those residents printed and posted the flyer in the building.
The next day, Bell sent an official notice that Day had to move out and turn in his keys by March 2.
According to the lease, the Darlington has the right to ask a tenant to leave by giving a 60-day written notice.
Day’s lease doesn’t expire until August and the graduate student says he simply can’t afford to live anywhere else.
“I’m a full-time student with a limited income,” Day said. “It really puts me in a bad predicament and I have no family here.”
