ATLANTA — An Atlanta condominium owner says ongoing elevator failures at his downtown building have forced him and his family out of their home for a year and a half, while continuing to pay a mortgage on a property they cannot safely access.
Mohammed Hassan owns a condominium on the 16th floor of the William Oliver Building on Peachtree Street. He said the building’s three elevators are frequently out of service, making it impossible for him to reach his unit because of health issues that prevent him from using the stairs.
“I’m just stuck,” Hassan said.
He said he has not lived in the condo for approximately 18 months because of the recurring elevator problems.
“I’ve not been here in one-and-a-half years,” Hassan said.
According to Hassan, the outages have been ongoing for more than two years.
“Almost six months of zero elevator, six, seven months, no elevator in the building,” he said.
Hassan’s daughters shared emails from the property management dating back to January that document repeated elevator outages. The correspondence shows all three elevators reported out of service, followed by notices that they had returned to operation, only to fail again hours later.
“This is just from the last two days,” Hassan’s daughter said while reviewing the messages.
“I came in, and I cannot come up,” Hassan said. “Then, one day I am here that day. Elevators are working. Then I cannot go back down, they are not working after that. That’s why we’re just scared to come.”
Hassan said he and his wife have medical conditions that make climbing 16 flights of stairs dangerous. He also said he’s afraid to get stuck and need paramedics who won’t be able to reach them.
“I will get blood clot and dead,” he said.
The elevator issues have also prevented repairs to his condominium after it flooded more than a year ago. Hassan said contractors have been unable to access his unit because of the unreliable elevators, leaving him unable to complete repairs, move back into the home, or sell the property.
Several other residents also told Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers they are frustrated by the recurring outages.
Rogers began contacting the property’s management company and homeowners association in April seeking answers about the elevator issues but has not received a response. Multiple phone calls placed over the past two months also went unanswered. On Thursday, someone answered the building’s main phone line for the first time, but the concierge said they could not answer questions about the elevators.
“I think our management is not taking care of the business, actually serious,” Hassan said.
The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department told Rogers it last inspected the elevators in July and found all of them out of service except for the service elevator.
The state office responsible for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance said it does not have authority to enforce ADA compliance for private entities.
Meanwhile, the Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Fire Safety said it would review compliance records but had not gotten back to Rogers with what they found yet. They also explained that if an elevator’s operating permit is current, building owners are not required to notify the agency about outages.
Those answers have done little to ease residents’ concerns.
“I like to be resolved of this thing as soon as possible,” Hassan said.
Hassan also said they raised the HOA fees to fix the elevators, but they still don’t work properly.
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