21 code violations: Documents describe crummy conditions at boarded up Lamplighter Inn
Code violation records for the rundown west Charlotte hotel that was boarded up and deemed unsafe by the Fire Marshal’s office on Monday verified complaints from the people who formerly lived at the property.
Records of those unsafe conditions obtained in a public record request by The Charlotte Observer, described the Lamplighter Inn’s 21 open code violations, dated between May 10 and December 4.
The records showed dozens of violations, including leaking and damaged pipes, unsanitary conditions, and signs of rodents and pests.
A Charlotte Observer investigation in July found some tenants living at the hotel said their rooms didn’t have smoke or carbon monoxide detectors. Owner Chandresh Patel at the time disputed that any rooms would be missing detectors because he said he kept them stocked behind the desk at the hotel’s office.
However, code violation records showed several rooms were missing one or both smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Unlike some other violations, Code Enforcement noted these violations were “dangerous.”
The Observer investigation was also the first to report about a supportive housing program that brought several tenants to the property, offering affordable rent and help with housing and health. But the program never launched, and tenants instead lived in poor conditions.
After tenants reported deteriorating conditions and utilities being randomly cut off in October and November, the city last month mobilized nonprofit organizations to move the over 60 people living at the hotel.
Nonprofits began moving them quickly after tenants found they were locked out of their rooms. Most of the long term tenants were moved out after Thanksgiving.
The rest, including some who were trespassing, were moved out ahead of the city’s planned Dec. 11 closure, according to a message from city staff to City Council members on Monday.
On Wednesday, there were no signs of anyone living at the property. The parking lot was empty, all doors and windows were boarded up, and three signs dated Dec. 10 from the Charlotte Fire Department were displayed on the property noting occupancy was prohibited.
Trash and full trash bags were left behind in the parking lot and along the walkways of the property. Some dressers, mattresses and bed frames from rooms were left behind, as well as a walker, microwave and clothing. Feces marred the second floor walkway.
A July 9 complaint said “hotel rooms are not designed for permanent residency.”
In addition to noting some violations were dangerous, some violation notices said the city would require a licensed professional to make a repair.
This included one room, a July 24 record said, where cracks extended from the bathroom to the exterior porch. In another room, a July 31 record said the bathtub would not drain. And the wall heating unit in another room would not produce heat, an Oct. 17 record said.
Inspectors documented stained ceilings or chipped paint, doors not locking properly, and cracked glass.
Problems at the hotel before this year
The problems tenants raised this year appeared in code violation records back to 2020 at the hotel.
Patel purchased the hotel for $1.2 million in 2020, according to property records. An inspector documented in 2021 that many rooms had no hot water, had signs of pests and infestations, and plumbing problems. Some were missing carbon monoxide detectors. But by the summer of 2023, every room inspected was found to be in compliance, and code violations were corrected.
City officials issued a press release last month announcing the plan to close the hotel. It said seven of the violations have racked up $13,700 in civil penalties since Nov. 20.
The building’s closure and tenants’ relocation comes at a time of increased scrutiny of rising housing prices in the Queen City and a lack of affordable housing.
Tenants and community members, including former Lamplighter Inn residents, told the City Council on Monday that officials must step up to force landlords to obey housing codes because people are suffering in substandard housing.
A retired attorney and housing rights advocate, Ted Fillette, as well as nonprofits OneMECK and ActionNC offered their suggestions as to how the city could strengthen its code enforcement policies or use them more strategically.
Mayor Vi Lyles, who last month called for a housing policy review, said Monday that she understood people’s concerns.
“There are too many of you out here that care deeply about this community for us to not do the things that we have the power to do,” Lyles said. “What we have heard and seen today all needs to be examined, and I expect that it will…. Give us some time. It’s not tomorrow, I know that, but I do know that this has worked before and it can work again.”
