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Landlord forced to live in own building (no heat, water, stoves, ovens)

upi.com — LAKEWOOD, Ohio, May 22 (UPI) -- A Lakewood, Ohio, landlord has been ordered by a judge to house arrest in one of his derelict buildings until he makes the proper repairs.

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  • JCSaint, on 10/11/2007, -3/+183Wait a minute, I think this judge may have seen the movie I have.

    From the Movie: The judge sentenced slumlord Louie Kritski (Joe Pesci) to six months in his own building. He would have been better off in jail.
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103007/
    • CraigB12, on 10/11/2007, -25/+5I was just going to post the same thing... I can only hope that if this guy is anything like Joe Pesci, they put him in jail for life.
    • GawtMilk, on 10/11/2007, -38/+25I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to *****' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
    • petoria, on 10/11/2007, -25/+11Rita Rudner funny
    • thcobbs, on 10/11/2007, -17/+2@petoria

      The think you're looking for is behind the milk.
    • Wormfather, on 10/11/2007, -6/+27...and much like the movie, I think this might be cruel and unusual punishment.

      /sarcasm
    • xxTazxx, on 10/11/2007, -11/+5Evil man.
    • GoodOldJacob, on 10/11/2007, -14/+1"Rita Rudner funny"

      Best. Post. Ever!
    • ajpr, on 10/11/2007, -8/+1nice! i remember that movie. It was kinda funny too!
    • kamiller, on 10/11/2007, -14/+3@GawtMilk

      dugg for your goodfella's reference.
    • Fission, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6Haha, is there a secret community of Lakewood residents on Digg or something? It's like they all hid in their caves, waiting for someone to post a Lakewood story on Digg so they could all swarm in and overthrow this website. Masterminds I tell you.
  • SeaMowse, on 10/11/2007, -0/+44I used to live within 500 feet of these apartments. They are not too far from a more exclusive part of Lakewood, known as the 'Gold Coast'. The apartments are decent, so needless to say I was surprised to read about this in my morning paper.
    • dmegivern, on 10/11/2007, -0/+14Seamowse: Maybe the outside hides a creepy interior. If they are nice, its not much of a punishment
    • SeaMowse, on 10/11/2007, -0/+44@dmegivern - that's the thing. They ARE nice on the inside. I don't know who owned the building when I lived there, but it looked fine. Actually, an old friend of mine used to live in that building. Definitely not a slummy place - at least not in the 80's and 90's.

      From what was reported on our local news and in our newspapers - this guy wasn't paying the utility companies, which resulted in having everything turned off. Plus, a bunch of other crap.
    • MicroBerto, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Yeah, overall Lakewood is a good area and one of the best in Cleveland for young people. If you forced me to move back to Cleveland (which will NOT happen), this is where I'd go.

      Lakewood, that is... not this specific apartment complex!
    • negativefx, on 10/11/2007, -5/+6"which would NOT happen"

      Hah! I think most people have the same opinion of Ohio.
    • stratdog25, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6This thread is so full of awesome. I live in Fairview Park - a 5 minute drive from Lakewood, and I know where this building is... what a scumbag. They should throw him away for much longer. Lakewood is a nice area, although its getting to be a bit crowded - becoming more of an artsy community ala Coventry.

      So seamowse, How's Pier 1 now that they yuppied it up? :o(

    • whisperedlie, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I've been living in Lakewood (renting) for 7 years and I'm glad to hear about something like this. I like Lakewood, but you're lucky to get a place where the owners actually make good on their responsibilities to keep their properties in safe and comfortable repair. It's a real rarity to find one that has any sense of pride and who puts extra work into making their properties nice places to live. It's sad that they keep raising rent year after year, but they don't do anything about ancient electrical wiring (which of course has been jury rigged to keep it functioning over the past 70 years), broken thin and inefficient (and sometimes leaden) windows, paper thin doors, insect and moisture problems, heating ducts that haven't been cleaned out in half a century, furnaces from the 40s, and so on. A lot of them act like they're doing you a huge favor by letting you pay out the ass to live in their crappy apartments and duplexes.

      I suppose part of the problem is the mixed demographics Lakewood brings in. You've got young and old, families and singles, poor and middle class all mixed up. I will admit that I can sympathize with landlords that have to deal with jerks that have no respect for themselves or the property they're renting.

      The bottom line, though, is that I would love to see this city cleaned up.
    • SeaMowse, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2@whisperedlle - I lived on Clifton for awhile. It had steam heat- yuck! Then I lived in the upper part of a house on Hilliard. Again - steam heat. The landlord once left me without running water for 5 days - and that included not being able to flush the toilet. I stayed at my boyfriend's apartment, and deducted 5 days from my rent. Well, to make a long story short, she tried to sue me. This, after I moved out to a duplex (side by side) on Beach. I loved living on Beach, even though I lived just 3 houses from the railroad tracks. We had gas heat there. But you're right. There is a mixed population in Lakewood, and tons of older buildings. I miss Lakewood. I now live in Berea - in my own house, with electric heat! No more rentals for me! Thanks for sharing.
    • SeaMowse, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@stratdog25 - heh heh. I haven't been to Pier W since the 90's, so I can't comment on the 'yuppiness' of it! Good steak and lobster, though!
  • scot184, on 10/11/2007, -14/+2I wish a judge would order all the sleazy brokers and loan officers who stuck poor, uneducated people into negative amortizing loans to pay their loans!

    http://www.thetruthaboutmortgage.com
  • silverchrysalis, on 10/11/2007, -10/+113can a judge somewhere order Bush and his entire rat pack to live in Baghdad for a year? not in the green zone, either...
    • alpha94, on 10/11/2007, -3/+44There was a time when commanders used to lead their troops into battle. Now they just wear the dark suit, white shirt and red ties and use their pens.
    • peterandbeer, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7silverchrysalis is absolutley right on this one
    • hmmmok, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11Georgie didnt create that prison. He just changed the warden.
    • thefirelane, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3"There was a time when commanders used to lead their troops into battle. Now they just wear the dark suit, white shirt and red ties and use their pens."

      Ahhh yes, I too look back fondly to the days of warlord rulership. Civilian controlled militaries and democracy are way over rated!

      Ok, seriously... you don't have to lose all sense in order to be anti-Bush. Digg me down if you want, but the above post's mindless cynicism isn't helpful and makes any opposition look juvenile
    • Tiak, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5@hmmmok

      In this analogy, was the prison previously a luxurious camp for retarded kids?... Whatever he did or didn't create, thousands are killed every month there that wouldnt've died before he intervened... Saddam would've executed everyone who would've conceivably been blowing up the damn cars by now and people would actually be able to leave their homes.
    • hmmmok, on 10/11/2007, -9/+2So you miss Saddam, and his humane style of murder ?

      Yeah, Bush made a HUGE mess, and now we're in the middle which sux. But don't tell it was some kinda utopia before. And I'm not sure ppl could leave their houses and travel so freely before.

      Bush could be sentenced to live there before or after the war -- would it make a difference ?
  • keyguy242, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12WOW! I live right by these apartments! They are near the gold coast. This is a big gay community. Which is why everyone thinks its so clean. Lakewood is one of the nicer suburbs of downtown Cleveland. This is suprising to me considering I'm looking to move into a different apartment.
    • moofer, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Shaker Heights is nicer than Lakewood
    • Manhigh, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Yeah and in Shaker heights you have to drive 20 minutes just to get on a freeway.
    • keyguy242, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1McCarthy's Now theres a punishment for the Landlord. Make him stay there for a night while douche bags and skank whores try to fight him. HA! Or even worse BOBBY O'S!!
    • lordmike, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"Yeah and in Shaker heights you have to drive 20 minutes just to get on a freeway."

      Didn't you know that "The Heights" is ancient Greek for "inconvenient"?"

      I sympathise, being from another Cleveland "Heights"... but, you do have the rapid transit.

      Thanks,

      Mike
    • lordmike, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Yeah, but the buildings are VERY old! A lot of these old places may look very nice form the outside, and even inside, but they can be quite rotten tot he core, with horrible plumbing, electricity, noisy steam heat, and no insulation.

      Thanks,

      Mike
    • SeaMowse, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Heh heh. Did you know that Lakewood is mentioned in the original Trivial Pursuit game? The question was, 'What is the largest gay population, per capita, in the U.S.'? Yup... Lakewood was it - at least back when the first Trivial Pursuit game came out - in the early 80's, I think.
  • Nazuel, on 10/11/2007, -32/+8Landlords... one of the worst exploiters known to man. They dont need that land for their own use, but will force you to pay them so you can use it, and you cannot really argue because it is a need. Parasites. As for Bush, no a judge cannot order that. A tribunal in the Hague however, can have him hanged for crimes against humanity though. Oh wait, were the worlds superpower. We do not answer to the rest of the world, I forget.
    • GeorgeStone, on 10/11/2007, -3/+46"Landlords... one of the worst exploiters known to man. They dont need that land for their own use, but will force you to pay them so you can use it"

      Landlords make you pay to live in a house. How ghastly.
      On may the 15th, no one live in their house. We will boycott the bastards.
    • SteelChicken, on 10/11/2007, -8/+13yeah, those evil capitalists! kill them all! take their stuff! give it to "unemployed" Mac-using latte-sippin enviro-hippies!

    • tfirma2000, on 10/11/2007, -5/+24You're advocating living on someone else's property for free and calling a landlord a parasite? Get a job!
    • Anevilweasel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10Being a Landlord is fine...as long as they are fair in their pricing and are attentive in their maintence. I've had several great landlords that I'd never begrude the rent I pay to utilize thier property. I've also had a few bad landlords that didn't deserve half the money given to them. Not all Landlords are scum.
    • seithon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15Whilst I don't agree with the poster.. I will say this.
      Their are alot of bad landlords.
      When I was living in cork city, Ireland, Myself and 100 other people were evicted on christmass day by the landlords management company.
      The reason?
      If they took in refugee's and other special groups they'd get lots of tax breaks... And even if they didn't it was more cost effective to have the apartments empty and take the tax breaks from taking a loss due to some odd tax loopholes they were exploiting.

      So yes, thats my experience with landlords and renting.
    • moofer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+17My former landlord (that eventually sold me the property I was renting) is one of the sweetest, fairest, and hard-working people I know. Anything that went wrong with the house was fixed as close to immediately as possible. If I fixed the problem, he credited me for my time and expenses in doing so. He is in his late 70's and he would come by and mow my lawn with his wife every week, which often resulted in a half-hour discussion in the front yard about how is family was doing, and how my work was going. Call him an exploiter, and you're headed for an ass-kicking.
    • silverchrysalis, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3@moofer- you got damned lucky
    • mythandros, on 10/11/2007, -5/+2@moofer

      He was an exploiter.
    • cjh79, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Farmers... one of the worst exploiters known to man. They dont need that food for their own use, but will force you to pay them so you can have it, and you cannot really argue because it is a need. Parasites.
    • Flatlineskillz, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1@steelchicken

      Lets leave the mac vs pc debate out of this...
    • moofer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2@silverchrysalis
      "@moofer- you got damned lucky"

      how so? Because I did my homework? If your landlord is a prick, MOVE. It's your money - let it speak for you. Why would you continue to line the pockets of an ass hole? You should be interviewing the landlord the whole time you're looking at a potential property to rent. Ask them for a list of tennant references, and go talk to them. Stop people at the pool or on their way to the mailbox and ask them what life is like there. If it sucks, they'll definitely let you know. Why just jump into a rental agreement? It's the place you're gonna live for christ's sake. Why people don't spend the necessary time in their decision process is beyond me.
  • goyney, on 10/11/2007, -14/+2"A Lakewood, Ohio, landlord has been ordered by a judge to house arrest in one of his derelict buildings until he makes the proper repairs."

    How can he make the proper repairs if he can't leave to buy supplies? The joke's on him!
    • Frecklefoot, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Read the article. He can leave between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. The rest of the time he has to be in the building, monitored by an electronic monitoring device (e.g. an ankle bracelet).
    • rrasco, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3@goyney

      did you RTFA? the gas has been turned off, there are no supplies, just a bill to be paid.
    • Chakat, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Additionally, even if supplies are needed, most hardware stores deliver these days. Barring that, he could always hire someone to shop for him. Just because he's stuck in his apartment doesn't mean he's completely isolated from the world.
  • peterandbeer, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17that is a really good punishment for something like that id like to see more punishments like that go into effect
    • d3c0yn4m3l355, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Personally I find it kinda strange, I suppose the landlord rents the appartments to the people with an all-included program. Otherwise the costs weren't put upon the landlord, what I don't understand though why the costs were all of a suden dropped to 100+k to aroundish 28k usd? I kinda have the feeling that this short story does not nearly say half of the true story.
  • rrasco, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1oops, wrong spot.
  • anino, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2sure served him right.wish every landlord who leaves his house derelict gets sued
  • Glenndo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9The guy I work next to is from Lakewood. He has heard of this guy before, and apparently he was deliberately neglecting these apartments in hopes that the city would take them through eminent (sp) domain or some such. Apparently he was not making any money off them (not to mention he appears to have been in major debt) and I guess thought he would at least be able to get some compensation from the city for them.
    • mabhatter, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Usually in cases like this the city will condem the apartments for code violations... repeat for a few months then 'doze the place. AT the OWNER'S EXPENSE. Then they might take the vacant lot for taxes or eminent domain...at reduced cost. And they can still come after the owner for costs incurred in situations of wanton neglect where they own property elsewhere in town. I'm surprised they haven't pulled the "selective enforcement" on the building codes for ALL his properties.. including home... that can run you up money really fast and void your mortgage.
  • CGreen, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1I didn't read the article.
    • gjzilla, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Did anyone? ~~~~
    • KyleRayner, on 10/11/2007, -5/+5Pfft, article reading is for girls. You know how digg works, title says it all! >.>
  • xabstract, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8the world would be such an awesome place if judges just gave more creative sentences...barry bonds has to stuff his face with junk food...etc...
    • TonksKC, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Agreed. Our prisons are overpopulated anyway. Might as well take the small-time criminals and give them interesting sentences like this guy.

      Almost like "eye for an eye."
    • salinemist, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1So much for the rule of law, let's let the Judges be in charge.
  • jairhart, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I'm sad to say that I know this fact, but this was a Golden Girls episode.
  • DeFex, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10What is the judges problem? the landlord is a businessman, he should be allowed to lie to, poison, and rip off his customers like other American businesses!
    • 15charmaxwtf, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1There's a great new book out!! its called the Communist Manifesto, you might be interested in it.
  • LLLSecretChimp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2This article doesn't make sense. If the building's "derelict", i.e., abandoned, it has no tenants. The article says he owns multiple properties, so why doesn't he have to live in the property with the tenants that need the repairs? If he's really selfish, won't he repair the building he's living in first? I don't think there's enough info in the article, or the author is using "derelict" incorrectly.
    • SoccerDavezac, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2That's one definition. Another is just "neglected," which fits the bill.
  • Mikejoneswho5, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Didnt that happen on Fresh Prince of Bel Air?
  • sphigel, on 10/11/2007, -6/+3Why would anyone move into an apt in such bad shape. The landlord has every right to not have those amenities in his apts. Just like people have every right to choose not to live in them. But I guess I forgot that people who hate businessmen tend to ignore the fact that consumers have choice.

    • apetrie, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4You really believe the landlord has the right not to have hot water/power/heating etc. turned on? Seriously this "free market will fix everything" crap has gotten out of control.
    • mabhatter, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3how about the fact that usually tenents sign a lease contract for a set term of living there! The owner can't just stop making repairs while under lease terms and hope his tenants break their contract to move out.. Under business terms how fair is that? Also, commercial rental properties have a higher expectation of meeting building codes.. If one person is under contract to live there the landlord can't let the building "rot" around the one remaining tenant hoping they'll "go away". Sounds like the guy made a habit of this behavior and the judge picked his worst property to punish him with.
  • 15charmaxwtf, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2 "Naumann allegedly owes nearly $114,000 to gas company Dominion East Ohio"
    Why the hell does the gas company allow him to owe them that much, why didn't they cut him off long ago?

    Does this man force people to live in his building? I'm guessing not. So, how can he screw tenants over? Did he trick them into paying for a years rent and then when they see the building they notice they defrauded them?

    I'm gona get dugg down for this but is it an example of liberal bias? It clearly does not give enough information to even allow someone to make a judgement, but it looks like its blaming the business man...
    • Chakat, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Most places these days make you sign a lease of varying terms; my place we're just about to sign a 1 year lease, for example. If the property owners decide to run the place down starting, say, a month from now in order to run a similar scam, we're ***** out of luck pretty much until the lease is up. Yeah, most lease agreements stipulate that if they don't hold up their end of the lease, you're legally entitled to break the lease, but at the same time, getting a positive reference from such a place becomes impossible in those situations.

      Additionally, a $100000 gas bill isn't too difficult to imagine if the complex is of decent size; usually you have to go without paying the bill for several months before they disconnect. In that time, it's pretty easy to imagine a big gas bill wracking up. So, no, this is not liberal bias, but rather an article about a pretty ***** sleazy landlord.
    • mus4graciouslvg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0some people, such as myself (recent graduate struggling to pay off student loans on a receptionist salary) and my boyfriend (college student with child support to pay and a job that continually screws him on hours) don't have enough money to be able to choose any apartment they want.
      we ended up in one of his buildings because it was the most affordable of any of the places we looked at, and that was our number one concern at the time. also, it comes from being too trusting of people (admittedly a character flaw in this day and age)...considering that we were repeatedly assured that everything would be taken care of and by the time we realized we were being scammed, it was too late and we were stuck in a lease.
  • miggie, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Something like this happen in New York and Newark, NJ once. In the NYC case the landlord was force to live in the building and make repairs to it. It was the start of the housing boom and the area was starting to get redeveloped so this guy thought if he didn't take care of the building the people would move out and he could get 3 times as much with new tenants. But the building was rent control and the people were poor so they had no place to go. In Newark the tenants complained just like New York but the judge in that case order the building condemned and they were force to move out and the city sold the building to someone else.
  • kungfoolou, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Now all they have to do is follow the guy around with a camera and air it on Fox. As much as I can't stand reality shows, this is something I would definitely catch at least a couple of episodes.
  • jerryn, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Funny, I guess this is when Life copies art. There was a movie with Joe Pesci called "The Super" Where a slumlord had to live in his ran down apartment building in New York.
  • antifud, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4The only problems listed in the article are gas related, the apartments may be very nice, but without gas, there will be no hot water, no heat and no stoves or ovens unless they run off electricity. Many of the old buildings in Lakewood use a central heating / gas system. Tenants are not charged for gas, since the apartments themselves are not metered, just the building. Hence, the owner falls 3 months behind on the gas bill, Dominion shuts off said gas, requires the past due amount to be paid before service is restored.
    • bigtymer1, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Well I don't think any building without heat and hot water can be "very nice". But that is what probably is going on here. I will say this though....The westside sucks.
    • antifud, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3@bigtymer1 - You are living in your "very nice" house. There is a gas line break. You no longer have heat, hot water and can not use your gas stove. Is your house still nice?
    • SeaMowse, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Yes... this is true. The building is an older building. Some of the older buildings in Lakewood operate on steam heat. Thankfully, it is not the winter time. Lakewood is right on Lake Erie, and the 'Lake Effect' winters are brutal.
  • ichbinladen, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I hope he gets shanked in his own apartments.
  • esoterroriffik, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I'm assuming gas was included in lease agreement- meaning the property owner was responsible for all payments to gas company. Instead of taking the money out of the rent to pay the gas company as most likely stipulated in the contract- he's living it up like a Van Halen video. Being from Texas, I could not imagine facing a Cleveland winter with no gas, nor could I imagine every meal having to be microwavable, nor a non hormonal induced cold shower.
    This happened to me once in college where I rented a house with all bills paid- the landlord for some reason stopped paying the utility bills. It took two weeks, a lawyer, and a threat of a lawsuit to get back to business (two weeks with out your personal computer, living out of a ice chest, and having to take showers at the campus gym is an eternity) The landlord settled for three months free rent and on my next lease (I really liked the place) I agreed to pay utilities and the rent went down $150.
  • slapthemonkey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Its funny!!!!!!!
  • LinearLad, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Obviously the guy cant afford a good lawyer either. The place in uninhabitable with no heat or hot water. Granted, he is responsible to maintain the building to minimally acceptable conditions. Regardless, no mater how well intentioned, the judge cannot force a defendant to live in sub-standard housing. That would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The city would do better to seize the asset. As for the defendant, he would do better staying at the Hilton - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nulxy0pbzBQ
    • mabhatter, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3But this is the defendant's own property.. the bar for rentals is high.. for your own property, not so much. It's completely up to the owner to make it what they want to live in ... and that's the point!

      You also have to factor in the effect of neglect on the neighborhoods (he had more than one bad property but some nice ones too) as well. Other people are paying for their homes, making his property worth more and he's bringing them down because he doesn't like the neighborhood.
  • lordmetroid, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1What the hell... No one forced the renters to live there, why force him?
    • SeaMowse, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Yeah... well, the renters signed a contract, which provides them with a place to live, as long as they pay their rent. Why should they be forced to live elsewhere, when they pay for rent - in good faith? From what I've heard on the local news (I live in Cleveland), these people didn't even have water to shower with. Many are staying with relatives or friends, or have gone to a hotel/motel.
  • l4stgunslinger, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Just a quick question relating to this topic. Was the aforementioned landlord obligated to pay for the utilities?
    • SeaMowse, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Yes. Utilities are part of what the rent covers. Paying the water bill is building owner's responsibility, and would have to be, given the fact that there isn't separate water meters for each resident. The only utility that the rent doesn't cover is telephone service.
  • filmaddict, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Rawls would be proud.
  • Kinjiru, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4A deserving sentence for the lame *****.
  • jesse9300, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1sounds familiar, anyone seen "The Super" staring Joe Pecsi

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103007/plotsummary
    • putamare, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2sounds familiar, have you seen the "first post"?
  • meretricis, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3beautiful, poetic justice. lol!
  • griffin7, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0This appears a good example of fitting the punishment to fit the crime; although I wonder if the landlord has the financial capability to achieve the desired repairs and pay the delinquent bills?
    If the person had the needed financial resources, requiring the payment and requiring the repairs would seem more fitting to achieve the increased level of living for the aggrieved tenants.
    What should be more important, rubbing the landlord in his own muck, or helping the people who really need it: the tenants?

    What is the judge really trying to achieve? Good PR for his reelection campaign, or is he just a mean human being?
    • sidkid88, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"or is he just a mean human being? "

      so the judge is mean for making the guy live in conditions HE created? If anyone from this story is mean I think it is the landlord.
  • sidkid88, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0@griffin7
    The landlord took rent from the tennants and then instead of forwarding some of that money to the utility companies he kept it to himself. He HAS the money.


    If only my landlord got the oppurtunity to live in his building, bastard would shape up real quick.
  • richiestang78, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Oh wow a news story from my home town nifty. Need to take a look at these buildings next time im over there to see how bad they are.
  • nmcbean, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2heh everyones from cleveland

    i know i am! yay cleveland heights
    • sotallytober, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Cleveland here...Ohio City to be exact.

      And Lakewood isn't what it used to be for everyone saying it's so great. I graduated from LHS in 86 and it was way better then. Bird town has gone way down hill. The best part of Lakewood is the west and the north end (these apartments are on the north end). Lakewood really needs to fix their streets instead of continually patching them. I hate driving in Lakewood.
  • rainydaywoman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0For about 3 months I lived in an apartment that had no bathroom and no kitchen. It was one big room with two closets which i turned into my kitchen. Man that sucked... And it still cost me $500 a month!
    • Stratochief66, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Your landlord must have laughed all the way to the bank, suckers like you don't come around everyday. Learn to haggle.
  • yomamaisfat, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I didn't know Joe Pesci owns a building. It's cool, the landlord will just play some basketball, go to a house party and learn a lesson in the ghetto.
  • sotallytober, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I checked the property via Cuyahoga County's site. This guy is almost $30,000 behind in the property taxes on this particular building. Actually, all of his properties are delinquent on property taxes.
  • toyotaboy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1why is it you only have one kind of peanut butter and you have a 100 varieties of pork rinds? because we don't get too many fussy white pricks in here!
  • kaledrina, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Ok so... Why can't child rapists get the same treatment they gave to others? Or for instance, mothers who abuse their children (7 years starved in dark rooms, fun times!), or people who freaking MICROWAVE BABIES!?
  • masterskill, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Why does it seem like half of Digg lives in Lakewood...?
  • wgch3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1i grew up in lakewood on clifton on the west side close to river-every time i go back to visit,i notice it get worse and worse... people have mentioned how much its gone down hill- its true- although it's still dirt cheap compared to elsewhere in the country- the city has been falling down for a while now..that being said, ill gladly wait a few more years to move back--until anybody can afford one of those 8 bedroom houses on the lake!
  • thegoldenstate, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2The judge is a genius!
  • mus4graciouslvg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1i live in one of this jerk's buildings and i didn't know ANYTHING about this until this morning. i feel totally taken advantage of. my boyfriend and i have had nothing but problems since moving in in February. i had a strange feeling from the beginning that the place was shady (we've never even MET Mr. Naumann, and he didn't send a lease over until almost a month after we moved in)...but i kept hoping i was wrong since the price was so good! ($525/month for a 2 bedroom, heat and water included)
    the apartment was pretty filthy when we first looked at it but we were told it was because the former tenants had picked up and left without warning and left all their crap behind. on a subsequent visit to take measurements for furniture, we found ONIONS growing in one of the kitchen drawers!!
    but we had been assured it would be cleaned up by the time we moved in 2 months later. guess what. IT WASN'T!
    we showed up on moving day with the first load of stuff and found 3 people inside looking like they had JUST started cleaning the place up! it smelled foul, the floors were all dirty and scuffed up, and there was trash everywhere! my boyfriend called Mr. Naumann and he told us it would be finished within the next few hours "or else". well it was...all except for the bathroom. no one bothered cleaning up the bathroom for us for about 3 or 4 days (even though we called them every single day asking when they were coming) so we ended up having to do it ourselves. it was absolutely disgusting.
    since those first few days, we've had tons of issues, including:
    -repeated loss of hot water (we haven't had it for the past 4 days and are stuck with a sink full of dishes and a need to travel across town to shower at my sister's)
    -mushrooms growing in the corners of the bathroom ceiling
    -not being able to thoroughly clean ANYTHING in the place (the kitchen floor especially...it's full of water, dirt and rust stains that i expected would have been able to be cleaned up for us)
    -bathroom paint bubbling up so big that the bubbles have begun to pop and fall apart
    -loose screens in the windows (one of our cats was missing for a month because he fell out)
    and most disgusting of all...the other day we opened up the silverware drawer to find about an inch of dirty rusty brown water inside!! we looked up and saw that the ceiling was spotted with rust spots but couldn't figure out what happened! calls to the maintenance man went unanswered because his voicemail box is ALWAYS full.
    i can't believe this. i don't even know if i should send my rent this month! i want to just leave.
  • mus4graciouslvg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0thanks...i contacted them and am waiting for a reply...
  • mus4graciouslvg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0yeah i signed the lease because there was nothing about any of this crap in it. so shush.

    p.s. the tenant organization is not answering me. by today i'm sure this is old news.
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