Charlotte apartments hire company to disinfect units, common spaces

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Andrew Saff and his girlfriend are moving out of the Novel Stonewall Station to a townhome. “Our lease is up this weekend actually,” Saff said.

Saff said he is moving so he can have more space to work from home and maybe a gym.

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From painting to professional carpet cleaning, a complex typically hires a company to do this work so the unit can be flipped for a new tenant. Some communities are now going above and beyond to sanitize too. Saff said he has noticed.

“Someone moved out on our floor so a gentleman was up there today [Thursday] spraying an apartment, they have a whole mess of sanitizers and things like that. I mean it definitely makes you feel better about living in a previously lived in space,” Saff said.

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Novel Stonewall Station is one of around 20 apartment complexes that hired Charlotte-based Rent Ready. Its CEO, Jonathan Kite, said his staff uses electrostatic spraying technology to clean apartment communities. The disinfectant is hospital-grade EPA-certified.

“It’s a spray gun that has disinfectant in it, and then applies a positive charge to it as it disperses from the gun ... so that it creates, essentially, a fog or a mist that then covers all surface areas in an apartment,” said Kite.

So far, Kite said Rent Ready has used the disinfectant in more than 1,000 spaces in the Charlotte area, from individual units, gyms, and common spaces. On one job, they were asked to disinfect several areas after an apartment employee tested positive for COVID-19.

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“I think it’s important for residents to be asking those questions of their apartment community, a resident should be asking what are you doing to protect us, what are you doing to ensure the common areas are safe, and that unit I’m moving into has been disinfected,” Kite said.

Rent Ready has served 59 units nationwide and has used the disinfectant more than 1,800 times.