STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. — A family of five in Stockbridge says they have roommates they did not ask for because ants have infested their home.
Kenisha Reeves said she is lived in her Invitation Homes property for the past two years with her husband, four-year-old daughter, two-year-old son, and 10-month-old son. She said they have always had an ant issue, but it did not get alarming until last week.
“Ants fell from the faucet, just covered our bathtub in ants,” Reeves said. “There had to be thousands of them.”
She said they cleaned out the tub and thought they had fixed the issue. She said the next day, ants fell on her while taking a shower, so she immediately made a maintenance request on February 13.
Pest Control showed up to her house on February 18.
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“He kind of sprayed the floor, sprayed where he saw ants, and he did spray outside,” Reeves said. “He put bait down in the basement, unfortunately he did not get into the kid’s rooms.”
She said the ants came back the very next day.
“I called,” Reeves said. “I said, ‘Hey, this is urgent. I have sent emails.’”
An Invitation Homes spokesperson sent the following statement:
“Invitation Homes strives to provide high-quality homes and a professional leasing experience for our residents. When an issue arises, residents can schedule maintenance requests quickly and easily through either our maintenance portal or app. We provide timely updates on requests to residents, and residents can track their home maintenance services 24/7through the app.”
In this instance, the resident notified us of a pest control concern on February 13, and we treated the home on February 18. We also have a second treatment scheduled for February 25, as it is normal pest control process to wait seven days between treatments.”
Reeves told Channel 2′s Eryn Rogers she had been asking for an update for days but was not getting a response.
“The just let me know when you all were at Invitation Homes, or after you left, they reached out and said, ‘Hey we’re coming on the 26,’” Reeves said.
In the meantime, she said her family wakes up every day to a new army of ants.
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“It is affecting my kids, 2 o’clock in the morning, my two-year-old son is coming out of his room screaming, there’s ants on me,” Reeves said.
She said they also have to keep windows open in the frigid temperatures to air out their home, especially since their four-year-old daughter has asthma.
“I shouldn’t have to keep spraying all of this stuff in my house with my kids,” Reeves said. “I shouldn’t have to take my kids somewhere to take a bath when we pay rent here, on time.”
While Rogers was at the home, Reeves found ants in her daughter’s bed and on her 10-month-old’s bib. She said it is traumatizing her children.
“The ants live here at this point,” Reeves said. “The ants need to pay rent.”
Invitation homes say their normal pest control process is seven days between treatments.
The family says they would like to break their lease early with no penalties.
In September, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Invitation Homes must pay nearly $50 million and make changes to its business practices after years of allegedly taking advantage of renters.
The FTC investigated Invitation Homes following numerous complaints from renters about wrongful evictions, withheld security deposits, and ignored maintenance requests.
Invitation Homes responded to the settlement, saying:
“Invitation Homes Inc. has reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission resolving the FTC’s civil investigation into certain company business practices. As part of the resolution, Invitation Homes will pay the FTC $48 million in monetary relief, with no civil penalties. The agreement contains no admission of wrongdoing by Invitation Homes.”
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