Worst landlord in Minnesota?
Tonight I caught a Fox investigative report on Jim Eischens, owner of Twin Cities Housing & Realty, LLC, who sounds like he may be one of the worst landlords in Minnesota. (Although we have reservations about that, since we are currently suing two landlords who may be far worse.)
Eischens apparently owns about 80 properties in the Twin Cities, mostly in student neighborhoods. He has had nearly 1,500 code violations in the last ten years. His attorney, Patrick Burns, was remarkably evasive, and pled ignorance at every opportunity. But we suppose there isn’t much else he could do, since the proof is a matter of public record.
More after the jump.
In a statement TCHR said it provides housing for more than 2,000 students each year. It also said “The specific reports and incidents contained within this news story are impossible to address because TCHR was not given an opportunity to review each one before the story aired.”
Well, we would have difficulty addressing–to say nothing of keeping track of–an average of 150 code violations a year, as well. Tenants talk of being afraid of living in Eischens’s properties. The segment showed dangerous wiring, exposed wall structures, holes, bedrooms the size of broom closets, and worse. It isn’t difficult to see why dangerous code violations may have caused the 2003 fire that killed three students, even if there is no direct evidence.
The one positive aspect of the story is that many of Eischens’s student-tenants seem to have found their way to the University Student Legal Service at the U. I was a board member of USLS at one point, and they can at least provide student-tenants with some guidance and, if needed, representation. And in this case, it is well needed, as Eischens seems to take as much enjoyment from retaining security deposits as he does in ignoring repair requests.
Here is another “lousy landlord”.
What’s wrong with our Judicial system?
I intend to contact the local newspapers and TV stations about this case. And I guarantee it will get some exposure.
What I want to do is get the Landlord Tenant Statutes changed, by going to the legislature. Any help would be appreciated.
In May of 2005 my wife and I rented an Apple Valley townhouse from Mr. Floyd Unruh (who lives in Inver Grove Heights). After a few days in the house we began to notice several problems: the tile on the kitchen floor was peeling back, creating a safety hazard; the counter top in the kitchen was not secured to the cabinet, when my wife leaned on it the counter top flew up creating another safety hazard; the vent hood over the stove was only secured by two screws and hung down, creating another safety hazard and a fire hazard; the television cable for the neighboring unit ran across the sidewalk of our front door, creating another safety hazard.
A couple of weeks after moving in our daughter got locked in her room, because the door handle was broken; I had to remove the molding from the doorjamb in order to take the door of and let her out. Then, about two weeks later, while she was siting in the living room, she began to feel sick. Upon looking underneath the living room carpet I discovered that the concrete floor was wet and moldy, because there were no gutters on the house and the concrete floor was set at same grade as the yard. When we asked the landlord to fix these problems, he failed to respond - other than drop off a new door handle and tell me to install it myself.
Because our daughter has chronic asthma, and the mold was triggering her asthma, I contacted both the Apple Valley Building Inspector and the Dakota County Health Department Nurse. They both documented the problems, but informed us that because Apple Valley has no statutes regarding family rental property they could do nothing to help us to get the landlord to fix the problems. The nurse did send a copy of her report to the landlord, but he refused to reply. She also told us that we could take the case to court, and withhold rent - as long as we deposited the rent with the court.
Realizing that the landlord was not going to address any of the problems, and that we could not stay in the house because of the mold, and realizing that we could not pay rent on the property, or deposit it with the court, and pay for someplace else to stay, we decided we had to break the rental agreement, by not paying rent. We informed the landlord that we would not be paying rent until the problems were fixed. The landlord failed to fix any of the problems and eventually filed an unlawful detainer action, and we were evicted, giving us a 24-hour notice to vacate the property. Because it took us three days to move in, we knew we could not move everything out, so we each packed a suitcase, with intentions of coming back to move out later, as MN State Statutes allow.
However, Mr. Unruh had other ideas. Having been in the house, both when we were there and when we were not there (without our permission), the landlord knew that I ran an Internet mail order business from home, and also did desktop publishing. We not only had our personal possessions in the house, we had over $30,000 worth of wholesale product stored in the garage, plus five computers and printers, two scanners, and a book binding machine; not to mention all of our furniture, clothing, electronic entertainment equipment, china, silverware, my wife’s wedding dress, our children’s handmade Christmas ornaments, family photo albums, tax returns and documents etc.
On the day we were evicted we asked the Dakota County Sheriff’s deputy to ask the landlord when we could come back to remove our property from the house. The landlord told us that if we came back with $7,000 in “cash” and a moving van he would give us 24 hours to move everything out. The deputy informed the landlord he could not charge us to remove our property, and told him that if our belongings were removed from the property he would have to inform us where they were being stored. The landlord told us to call him and set up a time to remove our belongings; which we did - several times over the next few months. Either the landlord was not there on the scheduled date, or he told us we would have to bring $11,000 in “cash, no check or money order” or we could not have our belongings back.
In mid -August the landlord took out an advertisement in a local newspaper stating “numerous computers, business equipment and hunting products for sale”. Upon learning of this sale I left a message on the landlord’s answering machine telling him that he was in violation of State Statutes if he tried to sell our belongings, and informed him I would be there on the day of the sale to take pictures of products and license plates, and I would inform everyone that what they were buying was not his to sell.
On the day of the proposed sale I went to the Apple Valley Police Department and informed them what the landlord was planning, and what I intended to do. When I drove to the house I noticed a sign stating that the sale had been postponed for one week. I stayed at the house for an hour, and then left. My wife drove by the house later that day and found an Apple Valley Police officer and the Dakota County Sheriff deputy parked outside. They informed my wife they were “checking out garage sales”.
In order to find out if the landlord still had our belongings, and where they were, we had a friend call the landlord and tell him he was trying to get back some of the wholesale product stored in the garage, which was his. The landlord informed him that one of the neighbors had seen someone with a beard, wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots (which would have described me) near the house, and the next day everything was gone; he no longer had any of our belongings. Upon hearing this I immediately called the Apple Valley Police Department, and told them of this possible “theft”. They informed me they could not do anything because it was a civil matter. I also asked them if the landlord had ever field a report of theft - they said he had not. However, both my wife and an Apple Valley Police officer saw several of our belongings in the garage of the house several months later.
Legal Aid said they would not help us get an order to retrieve our belongings. I have contacted over 30 private and corporate attorneys to help us, including referrals to William Mitchell School of Law, the State Bar Association and their Volunteer Lawyers referral, plus several pro bono lawyers off the Internet.
I now know how the people of New Orleans feel; we have lost everything (I estimate it will cost $110,000 to replace everything). The only difference is that our loss was not due to an “act of God” but to the greed of a slum landlord who stated that because he is “the landlord” he can “do whatever he wants”.
I have been told by several lawyers that MN State Statutes expressly prohibit a landlord from holding our property for back rent or charging us to get our belongings back, and that if he was going to move or sell our property he had to give a 7-10 day notice - he did neither. These same lawyers tell me they can win this case, but not without a $2500-$5000 retainer and $150-$190 per hour; and they estimate it could cost up to $80,000 to try the case. Since the landlord had or has all of my business equipment he has put me out of business; and we cannot afford to pay these fees.
We tried to file a motion to recover our possessions, and an injunction to keep the landlord from selling our possessions, but were told that we had to file a Statement of Claim to get our possessions back, which we could file in Conciliation Court - provided the estimated value of everything we had in the house was under $7,500; otherwise we had to hire an attorney and sue the landlord in District Court. Since we had over $100,000 worth of clothing, furniture, computers/business equipment, and electronic entertainment equipment in the house, we would have to hire a lawyer to fight the action of the landlord, which he was able to file in conciliation court without a lawyer. (I suspect that most people could easily have over $7,500 worth of belongings in their rental apartments, townhouses and houses.)
Which leads me to my question. How is it that those people who cannot afford an attorney, including criminals, can get free legal aid in a criminal case, but those of us who have to fight rich landlords and/or business corporations, who do not have enough money to pay for an attorney (in a case that appears to be open and shut) cannot get free legal services? How is it that the same Court that allows landlords to evict families also allows the landlords to keep the possessions of those families who they (even though it is in violation of MN Statutes), without any legal remedy in that Court - and that Court goes so far as to refuse to hear a motion to make the landlord return the belongings of the tenant in that same Court?
How is it that most cities have statutes and regulations that govern business property for rent, but not private residences (owned by corporations or business landlords) for rent?
After looking for an attorney for over a year, the firm of Dorsey - Whitney took our case and represented us in court against Mr. Unruh. Unfortunately, according to them, the Landlord Tenant Statutes seem to imply that, even when the landlord is in the wrong, all we can ask for our property is what they termed an “at arm’s length sale”, basically meaning the worth of our property reduced by 90%. As a result of this we ended up suing for $33,000 for the wholesale hunting product we had; and for our personal property, which I estimate will cost us approximately $70,000 to replace, we sued for $7,000. This property included all of our family photo albums, my wife’s wedding dress, the silverware given to her by her grandmother, the American flag presented to me by the VFW color guard at my father’s memorial, all of my business equipment (estimated at $10,000), and everything else we owned.
Because my business equipment was taken, I was also put out of business.
Judge Pawlenty is supposed to rule on this case by the end of the month, I do not know if we will win, because a case like this has never been presented in Minnesota before. But, no matter the outcome there is something seriously wrong with our Civil Justice System. The MN Statutes need to be changed so this does not happen to other people. If this had been a criminal matter, we could have gotten “replacement cost” for our property. But, since Mr. Unruh was our landlord, this is treated as “legalized theft”, and we may not get anything for our loss.
We are currently living in a motel in Burnsville - all three of us in one room. Prior to this I was a small business owner and a willing taxpayer - now I am neither.
Incidentally, Mr. Floyd Unruh lost his realtor’s license, because he attempted to sell a house that he stated he owned, but did not own. He also lost his agent’s license for a time. This is an unscrupulous, unethical slum landlord.
T.R. Michels
TRMichels@yahoo.com
As a result of my post here, and having been contacted several times in the past two years, and again yesterday, about landlord problems, I’ve decided to add a few ideas.
1. In any landlord eviction dispute (particularly where your property is still in the residence) you should contact an ATTORNEY ASAP, before the landlord has time to remove, dispose or sell your property. Contact SMRLS (Southern Minnesota Regional Law Services) or a Large Corporate Law Firm that offers pro bono (free) services to those who cannot afford the $2500+ it will cost you to hire an attorney.
Here is a great web site for resources to help in disputes: http://www.tenant.net/Other_Areas/Minnesota/resource.html
2. The lawyers should file to get you an “Order of Re-entry”, to provide to the Sheriff - so he can get you in to the residence to remove your property. But, do it ASAP.
3. Contact one of the I-Team (investigative team) reporters at one of the local TV stations, to see if they can get you some air time and get you in to remove your property. Landlords hate negative publicity.
4. Contact your state Representative - to get them to change the statutes so this does not continue to hapen to other tenants. I’ve contacte Will Morgan, whos is on the Housing Committee, I urge you to conatct him too. His e-mail address is: rep.will.morgan@house.mn
Feel free to contact me if you need more help.
T.R. Michels
TRMichels@yahoo.com
Incidentally, Judge Pawlenty (now retired, thank God) awarded us less than $6000 for all of our property.
Mak sure you take photos of everything you won, to produce in court.
And do not I repeat - do not - think that Renter’s Insurance will cover your loss of yuour proepty to a landlord, because although it is basically theft, it is “legalized theft” (according to the statutes of of MN).
We, as tenants, need to get the statutes changed, because the MN Tenants Union has told me they will not bring this up at the State level, becasue the Landlords and their lobbyists and representatives are too powerful to fight. WE AS TENANTS need to bring pressure on the State of MN.
If someone can figure out a way for US (you and I) to go before the Housing Committe, and tell our horror stories, please contact me at TRMichels@yahoo.com.
You have some unfortunate misconceptions about how consumer rights lawyers charge their clients. Most will take cases on full contingency if there is the potential for recovering attorney fees, as there is in the case of property left behind after an eviction.
For example, I recently received just under $50,000 for tenants in a similar situation.
The landlord-tenant statutes in Minnesota, including the statute on abandoned property, are actually quite tenant-friendly, if a tenant takes advantage of them.
As for your situation, it sounds like you made a number of mistakes, but the biggest was not contacting an attorney right away when you decided to stop paying rent. You could have scheduled a consultation with me, called HOME Line, or Legal Aid. Any could have helped you understand your rights so you might have avoided the eviction and what followed.
Thanks for the comments from T. R. & Diane Michels.
I the Landlord as follows:
Diane Michels came to my rental property with her mother April 05, looked at the vacant rental and decided to lease the unit. Then she said I have a slight problem, I won’t have the rent in advance nor the deposit (totalling $1900.00) until the 5th can we move in and pay you the 5th. I agreed, SHE SIGNED THE LEASE AGREEMENT FOR $950.00 PER MONTH PLUS ALL UTILITIES AND GARBAGE PICKUP. The 5th came and went and I got stonewalled over and over and over, for months this went on.So the Michels were in possession of my property for over 90 days and had not paid one red cent yet but oh boy did the ever come up with the stories.
Finally I filed an unlawful detainer. Then they called every organization they could think of to get back at me like the vent hood was loose and the bulb was burned out, the tiles (4) had come loose on the floor by the stove, the cable TV Co. left the cable laying across the entry-way concrete slab, I think they ordered the cable installed, they reported mold and the one BR door knob was bad. They knew about the vent-hood, the tiles and the door knob when they moved in. I asked T.R. if I brought the BR door knob over if he could install it, no problem he said, I have always wondered why he nver fixed it as promised or why it didn’t malfunction when they were entering the BR. It only took me a few minutes to repair the other items non of which were hazardous to their health. I ordered a mold inspection report at a cost of $250.00 I have the report which says NO MOLD PRESENT.
On our first Court appearence she promised the Judge that the rent money was coming and they would pay up by a certain date around 2 weeks I think. The Judge agreed and said “you both come back at such a time. We agreed. Then the day before Court shecalled me to say that I didn’t need to go to because she would go and tell the Judge she had the rent money. The day of the hearing she called and said the Judge had released her from the unlawful detainer. The rent was never paid, I went to see the Judge and was told that since I wasn’t there the order was over. So then I had to start over in Court and this time she lied again, she told the Judge she had the money and was paying me right after Court. After Court my attorney said give me the check, she said she didn’t have it. Another lie to the Court. We went before the Judge and were swarn in to “tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.
Finally after more Court dates I had the Dakota County Sheriff evict them. The first time the Sheriff came The Michels swore up and down that I would have rent paid in the amount of $7000.00 in the next morning, he came over to me in the driveway he said she is really sincere lets give them till tomorrow I said it will never happen oh well one more day won’t hurt. No money so he had to cox them out of the unit.
They walked out with out even one item in their possession to take with them. You see they have done this many times and they expected to be back in shortly or otherwise you would think they would take at least toiletrie items. I found out as the law suit progressed that they had been evicted for non payment of rent from a house in Inver Grove hts.,MN a few years earlier. They were evicted from property in Wanamingo, MN just before the came to me. Now they have been evicted from the place they moved into after they left my property. These are professionals at scaming landlords all over the place. Whos next?
When we were in Court they had a list made up of their possessions that they said I had disposed of. Their 4 page list (a wish list of I wish had all this stuff) totaled $113,000.00. If they had that they could have sold a fraction of the list and pay their rent.
I took pictures of every thing in the unit accompanied by the Sheriff just a few minutess after he evicted them. Then I changed all the locks.
These phots were submitted to the Court ansd after his review of them awarded them $13,000.00 for every thing. I know they couldn’t get anywere near that by selling all of it. I took what they had abandound to a outfit that helps peoplle out in need and they wouldn’t even take the stuff.
The Michels never paid me even one dime. But they cost me a lot of money.
Legal fees, Court fees, Sheriff fees. Hauling and paying to dump their junk, most of which I saved them money to dispose of it.
Yours isn’t the only place they have filed a complaint too. Three on them notified me that T.R. Michels had filed a complaint also. I replyed to each one and they never pusued the complaints any further calling the complaints sour apples.
The Michels NEVER DID DECIDE TO STOP PAYING RENT they never paid any rent at all,
that decision was made before they ever came to me or any other place they went to. They are professionals at doing to me what they have done and will do again.
All that I report is of public record and much more is of record too.
Very Sincerly
Floyd Unruh, lanmdlord
The truth of the matter is the Judge decided in our favor, but because MN Statutes are not clearly defined, the “what you could get for it at a garage sale” attitide prevails. And becasue I did not have photos of all of my business inventory (as in open up the boxes and take photos of all the items, and because Floyd selectively did not take photos of everything in the garage, and lied about what was in the garage (as is clearly pointed out in the court documents), and since Floyd had all of our receipts - we did not get much for our belongngs, or my business equipment, or my inventory.
Floyds rebuttal stating we could have sold part of my inventory is a JOKE, we could not sell it, becaue we did not have posession of it, because Floyd would not let us retrieve our posessions - even though it is the law. And, becuse the majority of it was game calls, tree stands, hunting clothing etc, it is unlikely we could sell enough of the extensive inventory by any court date, that it would have mattered. The extensive inventory list, and photos of some of the boxes it was in - is a matter of record with the courts.
The fact is - he refused to let us back into the house to retrieve what was rightly ours to retrieve (according to MN Statutes). Floyd broke the law and was fined for it.
I am sure my statments of the fire, safety and health hazards (including the mold found by the County Health Nurse and City Building Inspector) are still on file, so that anyone can check the truth of my claims. If Floyd repaired the door handle, - so Floyd either replaced the good door handle - tht I replaced and charged him for - or he was too confused (check his driving record and license plate for intoxication driving status) to realize he was replacing some other door handle.
The courts found that we owed Floyd no money at all, due to the deplorable conditions of the apartement (which seems to still be the case, because I was just e-mailed - by someone who has many of the the exact same problems we had with Floyd). He still flaunts the statutes.
No one should rent from Floyd.
If I can find a way, I will put him out of business, because he is a slum landlord, who ignores the landlord/tenant statutes of MN.
It is true we were evicted from our house in Wanamingo because Diane lost her job, and we defaulted on the loan.
As to contacting Home Line and Legal Aid, neither would take the case, because they do not take cases where monetary restitution is asked for - and we did not know about them until it was too late to get our belongings back,
The lawyers at Dorsey-Whitney spent hundred of hours on our case, and did the best they could - given our lack of knowledge of what should have been done before it got too “out of hand”. We tried to take care of it oursleves.
That was our mistake. Don’t let it be yours.
If any renter has problems I suggest they not try to do things themselves - get a lawyer ASAP.
As a result of my post here - and someone else having problesm with floy Unruh - I recieved these two e-mails in the last two days.
11/7/2008
If you want to forward it (her e-mail to me) you sure can. The guy is a real jerk. I tried talking to him last night about this and he wouldn’t even discuss the issue. My other daughter (who doesn’t swear) called him a bad word when she got off the phone with him. He hangs up on them whenever they call. And when I went over there last night, he took off like a” bat out of Hell”. (this sounds familiar to us .T.R) He said that if my daughters had representation, then he should. I printed up what was written on the internet but, of course, I forgot it when I left work.
A little history:
My son-in-law was killed in a car crash a year ago October 30th. They had a 2 1/2 year old and she was 7 months pregnant with my other grandson. They “subleased” the apartment (from Floyd) from a friend of hers. They needed to find a place where utilities were included for a reasonable amount. They have to stay in IGH because my other daughter works at Wal-Mart in IGH and doesn’t drive. She needs someplace that she can walk to.
They signed a 6 month lease and now he’s saying that they didn’t (she has someone working with her on this). Now he’s done an “addendum”; it is now a month-to-month lease just to see how it goes - which is really a good thing - because as soon as I find her a different place, she can move without breaking the lease. She’s getting $935 a month SSI for both boys and my other daughter is living with her. Now the challenge is finding someplace that will take them. If you have any ideas, I am sure open to any.
Floyd found out that someone called the Housing Authority, Fire Department, HUD, Dakota County and a couple other agencies on him and he blamed me. Unfortunately, someone beat me to it, otherwise I would have.
He said that, “no one has anything bad to say about him” (I certainly do, and he knows it, T.R.) and that “all his tenants say he’s the nicest landlord they’ve ever had”. (I know several others who have a “less than favorable” opinion of Floyd)
This friend of my daughters trashed the place. I should send you some pictures of the building when I get them on CD tonight. It’s atrocious. I pointed some things out to Floyd and he said that. ” the building is nice”. If you’re in the neighborhood or even know where the place is, it’s up by the IGH Police Department on Barbara Avenue. Not too far from the college.
I’d love to get together with you if possible and maybe we can figure some way to get this guy out of the business. I live in SSP and can meet you anywhere. You can also contact me at the number below if you want to talk.
Once again, I’m REAL sorry about what happened to you. I sincerely hope you can get back to somewhat “normal” and this will just be a bad dream. Tell you what, when I win the lottery, you are more than welcome to share some with me. Something has to be done about him. He’s heartless. Anyone who would their own grandchildren live in that building has no heart or morals. I don’t think I’ve met anyone that I like less.
11/6/2008
First e-mail received from this person:
I am currently (well, actually 2 of my daughters) are having a problem with Floyd Unruh. They were supposed to move into an apartment of his in Inver Grove Heights the 1st of November. He told them that after the other tenant moved out on October 30th that he needed 2 days to get the apartment ready for them to move in. He still hasn’t done anything.
They are staying in the apartment because they have nowhere else to go. The carpets need to be replaced badly, there are screens missing, holes in the walls and doors. The front door had been kicked in at least once previously and never replaced. The light fixture in the “dining” room is being held up by purple zip ties. Two of the cupboards don’t close. There is a burn mark from an iron and cat urine in one of the bedrooms, the door to the vanity is off the hinges and the toilet is atrocious. The light in the kitchen obviously has had a fire and has not been replaced. There are spackle marks around the entire apartment. He refuses to paint and told my daughter that if she wanted it painted, she would have to do it herself.
He was paid the $900 damage deposit by me, with the understanding that he would get the rent once he had everything done and the girls could move in. He said that even if they didn’t move in on the 1st, they had to pay a full month’s rent. While I was helping my daughter move some things into the garage, he came over and had a fit that we were there. Later that evening, he told them that he wants them out.
He didn’t want us there while we cleaned (he obviously wasn’t going to) and told my daughter that SHE was responsible to clean the carpeting, and that he wasn’t going to replace it. My grandson can’t come out of his playpen and play on the floor because the carpeting is so bad.
I’ve taken over 100 pictures of what is wrong with her apartment and the building and the Tenant’s Union, Section 8, Fire Department and every other agency that I can think of are going over there. I am SO angry about this and I, too, want to get this guy out of the rental business. He even has 2 of his grandson’s living in that apartment building. What a grandpa he must be. I’d be ashamed to be related to him.
I agree that he is a VERY unscrupulous, unethical landlord, not to mention (pardon my French) a downright prick!!!! I feel very bad for you and your family and hope everything looks better for you soon. I would love to hear from you.
My daughter just got out of another house where the landlord (Stage One Properties in Maple Grove) wouldn’t fix anything either. My daughters ended up moving out because it got to be too much money. When they took 1 day to move out, the landlord’s wife came and put a “Free Items in House” sign out and people started taking things.
Yep - Floyd Unruh is a “peach of a guy”.
T.R Michels
TRichels@yahoo.com
http://www.TRMichels.com