Residents without water for days in billing dispute

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A homeowner’s association in DeKalb County is demanding condo owners pay $3,000 each for new water meters.

Residents at the Fontaine Condominium in Lithonia have been living without water for days.

“Nothing’s coming out. We have no water at all,” tenant Davina Bonner said.

Channel 2's Chris Jose tracked down the HOA president for answers.

D’wana Davis said the HOA voted to install individual water meters in 2015. She said landlords and tenants were given several notices, including a final warning last week.

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“We owe DeKalb County $400,000. We have to have a way to offset that water bill and make everybody responsible for paying the water bill,” she said.

Davis said most of the families failed to pay their monthly HOA fees over the years, which covered water.

“If someone isn’t paying their fees, why should their tenants be getting free showers at our expense? Why should they have free running water at our expense?” she said.

She said the individual meters will hold landlords responsible.

Nearly 100 families must now come up with $3,000 to pay for new water meters or they will be forced out.

“Give us our water until you fix what you have to fix because we’re suffering and we’ve done nothing,” Bonner said.

Some resident said they don’t have the money.

“We can’t have these children running around with no water, disabled people running around with no water,” tenant Dyshun Harris said.

Davis said the HOA is trying to make a change.

“We want these people out. We want to clean this place up. We want to make this place more valuable,” she said.

Cox Media Group