By Nate Morabito, WCNC
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As Wall Street-backed investors buy up thousands of homes and turn them into rentals, some Charlotte neighborhoods are changing their rules in hopes of keeping those companies out, but when homeowners in the Miranda subdivision tried that, they ended up in court.
Mecklenburg County court records show American Homes 4 Rent sued the Miranda Homeowners Association in 2019 after homeowners organized and capped the percentage of rentals in the neighborhood at 10%. Court records reveal the company previously built more than 20 homes in the west Charlotte neighborhood, which accounted for roughly 25% of all houses in Miranda.
“They have, yes, a big chunk of homes,” association attorney James Galvin said. “Their big concern was this corporate face coming in and changing the character and culture of the neighborhood into a rental community.”
Galvin said the goal was to preserve an owner-occupied culture. American Homes 4 Rent challenged the new rule, among other things, according to court records.
“Since AMH’s acquisition, other owners of lots within Miranda have engaged in a systemic scheme to obstruct AMH’s use and development of the AMH Property and AMH’s property rights,” the lawsuit said.