|
|
|
|
|
How to evict a tenant without going to court December 9, 2021
119 Allen St. (Google Streetview)
Are you a landlord who'd like to evict a tenant without the hassle of going to court? The City of Lansing's Code Enforcement Division is here to help you. Just tell them the house has a serious code violation. They will slap a red tag on it and enlist the LPD in removing the occupants.
That's what happened to Robert Bain, who owned the house at 119 Allen Street in Lansing. He was about $2000 behind on his house payments in the summer of 2019. He planned to pay off the arrears and has documentation saying that he had until October to do so. By mistake, the Mercantile Bank put it up for foreclosure sale early, in August. The house was sold on September 26. However, he was told, he had redemption rights, which means that he had 6 months to come up with the amount the purchaser paid, plus interest and an amount to cover any expenses such as taxes or trash removal.
A brief explanation of foreclosure sale and redemption is here on the the Michigan State Housing Development Authority's website.
The house was sold on September 26, 2019, which meant that he had until March 26, 2020 to redeem the property. He tried to find out who bought the house and the purchase price. The bank had no information other than they were paid about $42,000. In December, a guy named Rhett Kalat knocked on his door and said he and his wife - Kendall Kelly, an East Lansing real estate agent - were the new owners. They exchanged phone numbers and Robert told him he intended to redeem the property. They kept in touch, but Robert was still unable to track down any information on the sale other than the sale price and the September 26, 2019 sale date.
Rhett Kalat's LinkedIn page says only that he is an investor.
On March 12, 2020 Rhett Kalat showed up again and asked if Robert would be out by March 26. He said no - everything was shut down due to COVID. He had been unable to get any paperwork on the sale and Kalat had none, either. Robert's attorney, Doug Austen of Frazier Trebilcock, had checked on shut-down orders with the Governor's office and learned that everything was on hold. When everything opened up again, the redemption period would be extended by the length of the shut-down. Kalat was not willing to wait. In April, he sent a letter saying he and his wife were going to move in in May, and if Robert wasn't out, he was going to evict him and throw his stuff out. Robert knew he couldn't do that because eviction requires a court order and the courts were generally shut down. In June, Kalat increased the pressure, knocking on windows and doors and trying to serve a 7-day notice - a 7-day notice that he himself had prepared - to quit or move out. All the time, he was filming himself.
In June 2020, Robert got the 18-page deed from the Ingham County Register of Deeds. Kalat's name was not on it. Instead, it listed both Mercantile Bank and Isabella Bank & Trust as having purchased it on 9/26/2020. Robert's attorney sent Kalat a letter asking for proof that he'd bought the house. To this date, he has not responded.
Kalat sued for eviction in September 2020 claiming "loss of income". The preliminary hearing was held by Zoom on October 21. 54-A District Court Judge Cynthia Ward asked Robert if he wanted a bench or jury trial, and he said jury. She said she was going schedule discovery and wanted all the paperwork by the first week in January, but warned that when everything opened up, criminal cases were going to be done first and they might not get to their case for a year or two. The two attorneys agreed to meet and exchange documentation, but Kalat's attorney, Jessica Larson, never followed through. That's the last involvement the court system has had in this dispute. There has been no hearing and no order of eviction.
In November, Kalat began putting ads on real estate sites Zillow and Trulia, saying Robert was a holdover, a squatter. He then told Robert he'd sell him the home for $60,000. Robert said no, he'd pay only the redemption amount, which he estimated at $46,000.
On January 27, 2021, noticing that the house seemed cold, Robert investigated and found a basement window had been broken. He reported it to the police. Read Officer Stephanie Kennedy's report here.
On March 12, Robert came home after being out of town for a couple days to find a red tag on the door signed by Amy Castillo, the code compliance officer for district 3 on Lansing's east side. It was dated 3/8/2021. He had talked to her in November when he'd received notice that he needed to register the home as his primary residence or it would be considered a rental. That notice was addressed to "Occupant". He explained the situation and she told him not to worry about it, just let her know what happens with the court process.
March 12 was a Friday. When he tried to call Code Compliance, nobody was there. They were on furlough.
On Monday, March 15, at about 9:30 a.m., there was a knock on the door and a voice saying "Robert Bain, you are not in trouble, but you need to answer the door." There were five Lansing police officers on his front porch, along with Mr. Rhett Kalat. They explained that due to the red tag, the home was an unsafe property and he could not occupy it. Robert explained the whole situation. They were already aware of the pending court case on the eviction. They said that Kalat had shown Code Compliance a deed proving that he was the owner. They had also looked at the assessor's tax records, which said that Kalat paid the taxes last year. Robert told them that Kalat's deed was a quitclaim deed which Kalat had admitted he completed on legalzoom.com. It was signed by an attorney out of New York. Typically, a quitclaim deed is a one-page agreement between parties who know each other. It is used to correct a typo, or it is a transfer between close relatives, such as a parent and a child. It is not a deed in full. Robert told them he had a copy of the actual deed, and Kalat's name was not on it. The police told him that they were there simply to enforce the law. Robert asked for time to pack. The police left and said they'd be back later.
That afternoon, east side neighborhood officer Ken Schaffer came back with his partner. Rhett Kalat was there also, in his pickup truck. Robert asked Officer Schaffer why there had been 5 officers there that morning for a code compliance issue. Officer Schaffer said he was surprised at that as well; police typically didn't enforce red tags. He was also surprised that a member of the public - Rhett Kalat - was present. Normally, civilians are not present to observe a police action, in case things go bad.
Officer Schaffer said Kalat told him that once Robert was removed from the house, he was going to break in, change the locks, install cameras, and empty the contents of the property. Robert asked how could he do that? With a red tag, all the owner can do is enter to make the necessary repairs. The officer said he didn't know about that, but they gave Kalat permission to enter the house because he was the owner. He then apologetically acknowledged that with the court case pending, ownership was in question.
Read Officer Ken Schaffer's report here.
Robert left to get a hotel room and came back in less than a hour to find that Kalat and another male had gained entrance to the home by breaking a basement window. They were on the front porch - front doors wide open - changing the locks and installing surveillance cameras. Robert did not confront them.
The next day, Robert did some research on code compliance on the City website. He found that if a rental property is not registered as such, it gets a pink tag, which means Lack of Certification. He looked up 119 Allen and as of February 1, 2021, its status was LOC (Lack of Certification) - no further action taken. But there was no pink tag on the house. Instead, there was a red tag, but no mention of it for 119 Allen on the website. The red tag is for an unsafe property. But there had been no inspection. Here is an explanation of the two "placard" types from this page on the City's website:
Based his own report, Officer Schaffer did not understand the difference between a red tag and a pink tag. He says repeatedly that a red tag means unregistered rental. Not true; that would be the pink tag. And according to Schaffer, code compliance officer Amy Castillo is working under the same misapprehension:
Assistant City Attorney Amanda O'Boyle seems also to have had minimal understanding of the purpose of the red tag. In a March 19 email to Jessica Larson, Kalat's attorney, she said
See series of emails here.
The Code Enforcement Division's page on the City of Lansing's website is here. The Code Enforcement Housing Portal, where you can look up building permits, code enforcement information, certificates of enforcement (rental certification) and projects, is here. Following is a screen shot of code enforcement information for the 119 Allen property as of August 2, 2021.
It shows that there was no "unsafe" determination until March 24, nine days after Robert Bain was forced out of his home. In a March 25 email, Amanda O'Boyle told the lawyers for the two parties "It is unclear whether this condition was present inside the home prior to yesterday as Code Enforcement has not previously entered the home." [emphasis mine] There was no basis for the red tag Robert found on his house March 11.
On March 21, while staying at a friend's house, Robert was scrolling through Facebook Marketplace when he saw an estate sale with pictures of his house and his belongings in the garage. He went to the sale the next day and encountered Zachary Lon, whose name was on the estate sale ads. There were people inside the garage. He told them it was an illegal sale and they left. Robert called the police. Three officers came; Robert Traverso was the only name Robert remembered. The officers insisted that it was a civil matter because of the eviction. Zachary Lon told them that Robert owned the house, but but someone else owned the garage and all the stuff inside and that person had given him permission to remove the contents. That was the former owner of the home, a local artist. He and Robert had an agreement that allowed him to continue to store his artwork and other belongings in the garage. They got the him on the phone with the police and he told them he did not own the building and did not give anyone permission to remove his belongings. They also got attorney Doug Austen on the phone with the police and he asked them to make a police report. They refused at first, but finally agreed to do so. The garage door was closed.
Officers Robert Traverso's report is here.
After the police left, Zachary Lon told Robert that he and Rhett found a lockbox in the garage and dropped it on the floor on its corner in order to make it pop open. He said he and Rhett still had some items from the box hidden in the garage. Robert had put the lockbox there for safe keeping after someone had broken into the house through a basement window. Lon said he had told the police about it. Robert called the police again and asked why they didn't take it as evidence, retrieve the hidden items and inform him of this. He was told the report wasn't written yet, but continued to claim it was a civil matter and referred him to the administrative offices of the LPD. A few days later, Robert called and talked to Lieutenant Nate Osborn who said he had never heard of anything like this. He advised Robert to take pictures or videos anytime he saw Kalat at the house doing anything other than repairs, and file a police complaint.
Either Kalat or men from Gorilla Junk Removal were there almost every day. Robert got calls from neighbors reporting that his belongings were being thrown out on the grass, from both the house and the garage. Nearly every day, he reported this to Lieutenant Osborn expecting to be contacted by a detective. After days went by with no contact, Lieutenant Osborn gave him Detective Kasha Osborn's number and he called and spoke to her several times.
The amount of money made from the sale of Robert Bain's and the artist's belongings is unknown, but could have been substantial. Robert estimates the worth of the art in the thousands. The police did not intercede. Officer Kasha Osborn reported that she called the artist and he told her that
It was declared a civil matter.
A day or so later, Robert called Amy Castillo and she put him on speaker phone with her supervisor, Scott Sanford. Both said that a red tag is used for an unregistered rental, which contradicts the information on the Code Compliance website. And since he was not the owner, they would not discuss it with him. Robert reported all this to attorney Doug Austen, who began making calls, one of which was to Scott Sanford. He tried to convince Sanford that the red tag was inappropriate. Sanford refused to have it removed. Austen told him that in that case, he'd call the city attorney. Soon after, Sanford called back to say he'd talked to Amanda O'Boyle of the city attorney's office and she ordered that the red tag be removed immediately. In his report, Officer Schaffer describes what happened next:
Officer Schaffer does not mention that what triggered his call to Code Compliance was a call from Ingham County 911. After he told Kalat the red tag had been removed, Kalat called 911 and complained that the red tag had been removed and he was unable to reach Code Compliance. Here is the recording of the 911 call and here is a transcript of the main part of Kalat's call:
According to the CAD report, 911 contacted Officer Schafer who called Kalat. Kalat told him there might be some electrical issues caused by the tenant. Code Compliance was called; they said they would respond and check.
Code Compliance officer Meredith Johnson went to the home that evening (March 24). In her report, she says she did the inspection at the request of LPD. "Due to the amount of clutter and debris in the dwelling", she says, "I was not able to do a complete inspection" but goes on to list several violations. One was exposed, deteriorated and hanging wiring. Another was lack of smoke detectors. Others were the lack of permits - for the electrical service panel and wiring, the plumbing, the furnace installation, and the A/C installation. The house was declared an unsafe structure and the red tag was restored. Kalat immediately texted Robert saying that the house had a new red tag and that he was not to set foot on the property.
The next day, Robert attempted to get a copy of the inspection report. Economic Development refused at first because he was not the owner (although these reports are public records). He did finally get a copy and disagreed with its findings. He emailed Brian McGrain, the department head. McGrain wanted the court information, the names of the attorneys for both parties, address, dates, etc. He said that Amy Castillo had told him she had requested that information from Bain and that he failed to comply, refusing to provide any information pertaining to the core issue. Robert responded that Amy Castillo was lying; he had provided all the information requested. Why wouldn't he?
He has heard nothing further from Brian McGrain.
He called Scott Sanford about the inspection report and told him it was wrong about the missing permits. He had called Applegate Heating and Cooling and they provided the permit numbers. Sanford told him those permits were from the old documentation system. They have a new one. So, Robert said, you have employees go out and do inspections knowing that there are two databases. They don't find it on one and don't check the other? Sanford responded that it was not their responsibility. Robert told him there were two smoke detectors. One was on the ceiling as you go from the dining room into the vestibule into the kitchen. The second is on the ceiling as you go down in the basement steps. There's also a carbon monoxide detector in the dining room. So the statement in the report that they were missing was a falsehood. The exposed wire was not connected to anything, so it was not a danger. The peeling paint on the exterior was not a life-threatening issue. The remaining issues were minor. Nevertheless, Robert told Sanford, you put a red tag on a property forcing an individual from his home for an issue or an item that is not legitimate, thereby making him homeless.
On April 4, Kalat planted a sign in the front yard:
It said:
Note to our neighbors
On March 26 2020, my family bought and
became owners of this house. But due to a loophole with
COVID, the ex-homeowner decided not to leave.
For the past
year, my wife and I have been properly trying to evict the
squatter, but we are still over a year away from an official
trial.
We got creative and got the house red-tagged due to
code violations that the squatter incurred while living
here.
Last year we offered him $1500 cash for keys, offered
to pay to move and store his stuff and even offered to pay
his rent in another place for a few months. He declined
every offer.
This has put stress on our family not only
financially but also emotionally. We can't wait another year
for a trial. He turned down yet another offer for us to move
and pay for his stuff as of yesterday.
The plan to move in
here as a family isn't even on the table any more. We will
now be selling it.
We have to move his stuff outside so we
can fix all the code violations. We have given him ample
opportunities to move his stuff and now have informed him
that we will kindly packing and placing his items outside if
he wants them.
To any city official that knew about our
situation and didn't didn't step in to help, our hearts
hurt. And yet there's still much grace. It's been a tough
year for you as well.
To our neighbors who we longed to be
next to, sorry for all the stuff that is currently in the
yard and thanks for the love and support.
Rhett, Kendall, Ivy and Kai
All this hassle for the family could have been
avoided by selling the house back to Robert as soon as he claimed
redemption rights.
After emptying out the garage, Kalat sent Robert a
series of texts indicating that due to the numerous code violations,
they had to remove all of his property in order to repair the house, and
it was going to cost $10,000 to $20,000. And he said through his attorney
that if Robert signed off his rights to the house, they would pack his
belongings in put them in storage for up to three months at their cost.
Robert refused.
Kalat hired a moving company, Gorilla Junk Removal,
and Rhett and his friends started piling stuff in the truck. Within the
first five minutes of packing, an untaped box was lifted and Robert's
entire dinnerware set smashed to the ground. Two storage units were
rented, each 10 by 20 feet. Looking in after they were done, it is as if
they took food from the refrigerator, put it in a trash bag; took some
clothes, threw them in; took some loose cat litter, threw that all over.
Robert's things are broken and damaged - refrigerator with food in it,
washer with wet clothes in it - a disorganized mess. Important documents
like his birth certificate and social security card are in there
somewhere. Without a place of his own, it is very hard for him to
sort things out because he has no space to do so. He has been
staying with friends while trying through MSHDA and Holy Cross to get
help with housing.
The Kalats did put the house up for sale. One
wonders if that was not their intent from the beginning.
Is there anyone else out there who has had an
unhappy experience with Code Compliance? I'd like to hear from you.
Email me at
stevenrharry@gmail.com or call or text
me at 517-730-2638. If desired, I will not name you as the source. I am aware
of how Code Compliance can make life miserable for a landlord they don't
like. If you want to be really cautious, mail me the
information anonymously at 3125 Tecumseh River Rd, Lansing 48906.
|
