Unpaid water bill forces College Park apartment residents to move

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Families living at a College Park apartment complex said they're being forced to move because of an unpaid water bill.

Channel 2's Ashley Swann spoke to several upset residents of the Turnbury Apartments off Old National Highway.

Residents say they watched as staff packed everything up and left Friday, the same day the city posted notices that basically said they need to find a new place to live.

Sept. 5 is the deadline residents were given Friday through both a posted and mailed notice from the city of College Park.

"Nobody came around, said anything. They just put the notice on the door and they were gone," said resident Adrian Gates.

The memo said the property owner hasn't paid the water bill, so the city will disconnect service Sept. 5. Two days after that, all of the approximately 30 families living in the complex must be gone.

"We don't know what we're going to do. We cannot find the apartment owner anywhere. No names, no anything," said resident Antoinette Rosser.

Residents, whose water service is included in their monthly rent, said office staff packed up and left Friday and aren't returning their calls. Channel 2 Action News also tried contacting them but with no luck.

"I paid $585 a month. Just to hear this is really devastating to me," said resident Claretta Simpson.

With the start of school just around the corner, many said they're especially concerned, and don't know how they'll afford a new security deposit at a new place -- not to mention the cost to move.

"We don't have anywhere to go on this short notice," said resident Carolyn Horton.

Some residents have lived at the complex as long as four years. Others are brand new to the community. Swann met one family who just signed a 12-month lease with a $300 deposit in June.

'It's not fair. It's not right," said Horton.

WSBTV