Fall from building sheds light on tenant complaint program

19-year-old Jack Lipp remains in the hospital in critical condition after falling off a balcony that residents said was in disrepair.

The life-threatening incident prompted ABC 17 News to look into who is responsible for keeping these properties safe, and how renters can protect their homes.

Leigh Britt with the Office of Neighborhood Services said ultimately landlords are responsible for fixing anything broken in a home, but if they will not respond to renters in a timely manner, the renters can file a complaint in the city.

507 S. 4th Street, where the fall occurred, was scheduled to be inspected next month. But that inspection could have come just a little too late.

If it was even a month earlier, inspectors may have caught the dilapidated balcony before Lipp leaned on it and fell to the pavement.

But according to inspection records ABC 17 News obtained, the property was still up to code based on the last inspection in 2011.

“The rental property owners make application, then the city inspector goes out and makes sure it’s up to code and then those properties receive a certificate for three years,” Britt said.

So the property wasn’t scheduled to be inspected until January, 2015 (a new landlord recently took over, prompting an inspection before the three years).

But since the last inspection in 2011, the students currently living in the house said the balcony broke and was only held up by two 2x4s, which Britt said would have been a safety violation.

The men told ABC 17 they asked their landlord to fix it but he only put the boards up, which is when Britt said they should have gone to the city.

“If they’re not getting it resolved, they can file a complaint with the city of Columbia with the Office of Neighborhood Services and we try to look one or two days after and take care of it,” Britt said.

But she said many people may not know about this policy. There are usually only about 170 tenant complaints filed each year even though there are more than 26,000 rental properties in Columbia.

“Students are only here for a few years so it’s hard to educate them on their rights and what the city ordinances say about rental properties,” Britt said.

The property has no history of tenant complaints, so it would not have been inspected earlier than scheduled.

A new landlord has taken over the property within the last three months, but the residents said he didn’t know about the problems — and that it was the landlord before they asked to fix the balcony but didn’t.

ABC 17 tried reaching out to both landlords today, but they haven’t returned our calls.