Lawrenceville City Council recently approved a new multi-family inspection ordinance that requires complexes with four or more units to be inspected annually.
The ordinance requires property owners to have a private inspector certify one-third of their units every year, and submit that certification to the city. Exterior and interior inspections are required as part of the new law.
“We have some great apartment complexes here,” Alan Bannister, the city’s code enforcement manager, said to council members. “We have great management teams that run those businesses. But we do have some that have fallen by the wayside and don’t do what they’re supposed to do.
“This puts the responsibility squarely back on where it’s supposed to go, and that is on the property owners.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published its “Dangerous Dwellings” investigative series in 2022, finding that a mix of lax security and deferred maintenance has made some apartment complexes barely habitable and a source of persistent crime. The series named 14 problem apartment complexes in Gwinnett.
Gwinnett and Cobb counties have also approved new property inspection requirements in the wake of the AJC investigation.
The Lawrenceville ordinance requires maintenance inspection for heating, cooling, water, electrical, sewer and the buildings structural integrity. Fines for submitting false certificates to the city are up to $1,000 per unit.
New developments are exempt from the required inspections and the code compliance certificate for the first five years, city officials said. Duplexes and single-family homes are also exempt.
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