When Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law 2024’s Safe at Home Act, it was meant to protect tenants against the worst excesses of landlords who rent out neglected apartments.
A little over a year later, tenants at Bolden Townhomes in southwest Atlanta don’t seem to be benefiting from the meager protections the state law granted Georgia residents. Instead, some say they were told to vacate their homes with unsafe conditions because they had been accused of squatting.
Another state law passed last year, called the Georgia Squatter Reform Act, criminalizes property squatting, and seems to have informed the response to the complex’s residents…