Nuballa Hollings wishes she had done a more thorough walkthrough before renting a home near Detroit’s Bagley neighborhood last December. It seemed nice at first. But almost as soon as she and her two children moved in, it was clear the house had problems.
Windows are nailed shut. Heat doesn’t reach the second floor, forcing the family to rely on space heaters. Neither the front nor back door locks properly. Worst of all, sewage regularly backs up into her basement.
“It literally smells like s— when you walk through my door,” she said. Hollings is a hairstylist who works out of her home. She said the condition of the property has hurt her business…