The City of Lansing is following through on promises to get more aggressive with landlords facing code violations.
Last week, the city filed eight housing code complaints in the 54A District Court against Christian C. Nwobu of East Lansing. A city database shows he currently owns 26 properties in Lansing. A May 12 show-cause hearing has been scheduled in connection with the complaints.
Media outlets have reported Nwobu has owned red-tagged homes in the city in the past. Those are homes deemed by inspectors to be unsafe to live in.
When contacted by phone, Nwobu replied with a text saying he didn’t have time for an interview because he was busy with inspections and meetings.
While there were more than 700 red-tagged properties at the end of last year, Lansing has only rarely taken legal action in these cases.
In 2019, when code compliance officers found the former Autumn Ridge's apartments weren't certified rental units, they pink-tagged the whole 618-unit South Lansing complex. A pink tag is issued for rental properties that do not have a valid Certificate of Compliance. This could be because the property is not registered as a rental or Code Enforcement, or the owner has failed to complete necessary repairs.
The city has also filed complaints against the owner of Sycamore Townhomes. That property is now in a receivership.
And now, there are eight pending complaints against Nwobu.
In his State of the City address last month, Lansing Mayor Andy Shor said the city will continue to pursue legal action against landlords who don’t keep their properties in good condition.
In a written statement that doesn’t mention Nwobu by name, Lansing Mayor Andy Shor said his administration has been aggressively going after “bad actors who are taking advantage of residents.”
He also says progress is being made in the previous actions the city has taken in connection with violations found at rental properties in Lansing.
“After years of legal actions, we finally won the old Autumn Ridge case and there are new owners now. We are currently in federal court on the Sycamore Townhomes and were successful in getting a receiver in place to begin a massive job turning that complex around,” Shor said. “Now, we are investigating and asking the court to once again assist us in this current matter.”
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
