City of Atlanta dismisses code violation case against illegal boarding house

The City of Atlanta dismissed a code violations case against a Collier Heights Padsplit boarding house more than a year after first citing the home .

“It was surprising because we’ve been working on this case for over a year and we’ve been waiting on the city,” said Collier Heights resident Harold Morton.

The Padsplit on McClendon Circle was the focus of a May Channel 2 Action News Investigation . It was first cited by city code enforcement back in 2022 and the case was finally set to go to trial July 8th. But the court hearing lasted only minutes as the city of Atlanta dismissed the case.

“The city will not be moving forward, with this matter,” Sharon Dickson, a lawyer for the city told Judge Christopher Portis in Atlanta Municipal Court on Monday.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks ]

Padsplits are modern-day boarding or rooming houses. Residents book rooms online for rent by the week.

The City says it is dropping the case against the Collier Heights Padsplit for operating a rooming house in a neighborhood zoned single-family for lack of evidence.

“There is no direct evidence, and the circumstantial evidence that the city has is inconclusive,” Dickson said.

“What do you mean you don’t have any evidence? It is so disappointing for our community because we are zoned for single-family homes,” neighbor Harold Morton told Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray after the hearing.

In our Channel 2 Action News investigation in May, Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond said the McClendon Circle Padsplit was a clear violation of the law.

“If you’re going to take the interior and carve it up, that’s an absolute violation of the city’s zoning code,” Bond said.

The first code enforcement citation was hung on the door of the Collier Heights home back in September 2022.

RELATED STORIES:

• Risky Rentals? Neighbors say a rooming house run by a company brings crime, violates city code
• Man says Atlanta-based rental company won’t return his calls after having gun pointed in his face
• Owner of rooming house makes court appearance for code violations after Channel 2 investigation

Owner Ivan De Figueredo Jr., Padsplit and Padsplit CEO Atticus Leblanc were all written citations in 2023 for operating a rooming house for a property zoned single-family but the city said it was unable to serve Leblanc and Padsplit the citations.

In late May, the city asked for a 45-day continuance because nobody from code enforcement showed up to testify.

Now, the city has chosen to drop the case entirely.

“We must dismiss this case for lack of evidence,” Dickson said.

Neighbors in Collier Heights say they are not done fighting the Padsplit.

“When people know how to use the system, that’s where it is. So, if we have to fight the system, that’s what we’re going to do,” Juanita Morton said.

Padsplit maintains it does not own the home. It is just one of many offered for rent on its platform.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter ]