LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A Lansing-area landlord is being sued by the town for housing code violations at eight of his properties.
Christian Nwobu, who owns greater than 40 properties in Lansing, is being sued after a March investigation by the town’s code officers discovered that every house had dozens of violations. All of these properties have been red-tagged and have been for a while. Nevertheless, some individuals are nonetheless residing in these properties, although Nwobu claims he would not permit anybody to reside within the houses.
6 Information Investigates has been following this story for months.
Lady evicted after investing hundreds into house
A housing code official testified at a listening to final month that a few of Nwobu’s properties have damaged home windows, sewage backed up into basements, damaged stairs, items from furnaces lacking, unsafe water heaters and inoperable utilities. One property had a gasoline line operating as much as the primary flooring that wasn’t capped off.
In Monday’s listening to, Nwobu was unable to supply the courtroom with ample proof that he was making progress on bringing these properties as much as code. A choose fined him $500 for every property. He was additionally fined an extra $500 for a property on Ohio Ave, for a complete advantageous of $4,500.
A brand new listening to was scheduled for Sept. 2, the deadline for Nwobu to convey these properties as much as code or face one other advantageous.
Decide Tony Flores mentioned a case like this will ultimately result in abatement, the place the town hires somebody to convey the property as much as code and payments the proprietor.
Nwobu can also be a licensed contractor and mentioned he’s working laborious to convey his houses again into compliance. He blamed the poor situation of his items on his tenants.
“I cannot be staying at my place and taking care of what the tenants would be doing,” Nwobu mentioned.
When requested if he owns too many properties, Nwobu mentioned that’s not a query he’s going to reply.
Pink, Pink and Taxes: Left residing in unsafe houses
Along with code compliance points, Nwobu owes $329,923.08 in property taxes to the Metropolis of Lansing as of July 25. This contains taxes for the 27 properties in his or his spouse’s title, in addition to the 17 properties he manages for a person named Manfred Woelfel, the listed proprietor, who lives in Germany.
Again taxes don’t prohibit landlords from being granted a rental license. A few of his properties have not had rental licenses since 2022.
In an interview, one in all Nwobu’s tenants mentioned Nwobu “loves helping people” and mentioned many of those folks would in any other case be with no house.
One among his properties is beneath the Housing Voucher program, previously often known as Part 8 housing. A number of of his properties beforehand acquired housing vouchers however all of his tenants have left and this system has suspended him from receiving vouchers as a result of state of the houses.
Director of the Lansing Housing Fee Doug Fleming instructed 6 Information this example is “unprecedented” and that Nwobu’s housing voucher tenants have been allowed to maneuver halfway by their lease, which is often in opposition to the foundations.
“We’ve only had to do this to one other landlord,” Fleming mentioned.
6 Information reporter Todd Heywood additionally contributed to this report.
