Tenants Call Him A Slumlord

A "slumlord" that's what some tenants are calling their landlord in Mobile's Plateau community.

Jackie Smith says she called the owner for help after her power started flickering and cracks started forming in her walls. No one ever showed up so she stopped paying rent!

Smith's complaint about landlord Nelson Adams came after Monday's electrical fire on Newman Street.

Cassandra Clark says she asked Adams to look at the wiring but he never showed up. "I told my landlord that the wiring and stuff up in there needed to be fixed and it was just ignored. I constantly told him about it and he constantly ignored me."

We got Nelson Adams on the phone. He says he has problems with many of his tenants in Plateau and that most are behind on their rent. "They all know the type tenants they've been and the type activities involved in and I should have had them arrested a long time ago."

Investigators have ruled Monday's fire as accidental but Adams is not even convinced of that. "I'm gathering information on that. I don't think it was an accident. I'll leave it at that."