Opinion
44385.
DECIDED JUNE 19, 1987.
Atlanta City Code violation; constitutional question. Atlanta Municipal Court. Before Judge Malicki.
Hishon Ranney, Hugh M. Worsham, Jr., for appellant.
Raines F. Carter, Solicitor, for appellees.
Grace Eris was convicted in the Municipal Court of Atlanta of the violation of Section 14-6172 of the Atlanta City Code, which prohibits the operation of a "hotel, lodging house, rooming house or similar place" without first applying to the bureau of police services for a permit to do so. This section of the ordinance does not define "a hotel, lodging house, rooming house or similar place." Section 14-6171, however, defines "rooming house." It defines also "apartment house" as a building in which "living facilities such as a living room, bedroom, kitchen and bath are provided for a person or family, and where the building is capable of accommodating two or more families who would have separate living facilities." Eris, who is a licensed real estate broker, was a principal in a real estate management firm that managed some two hundred condominium units in Peachtree Towers. The units which Eris rented consisted of a living room, one or two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom.
Under the evidence of this case, there is no question but that each condominium unit in question was an "apartment," (as distinguished from being a "hotel, lodging house, rooming house or similar place") as this term is defined by Section 14-6171 of the Atlanta City Code. As such, Eris' conviction, therefore, must be vacated.
Judgment reversed. All the Justices concur.