CLEVELAND — Ron James has been a tenant at Cleveland's Residences at Shaker Square apartment complex for two years but is now moving out due to what he called chronic quality of life issues.
For the past 18 months, News 5 has been following through on reporting on multiple code violations filed by the City of Cleveland at the three apartment buildings owned by New York City company Shaker Square Apartments Owner LLC.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
James and several other tenants at the complex reported chronic plumbing, electrical, trash collection and elevator issues at the complex. But James said by far, the biggest issue is the intermittent lack of heating and hot water at the complex. Earlier in the year, the City of Cleveland sent in building housing and fire inspectors to the complex and deemed some of the issues a tenant safety risk.
“2022, there was some people with one month with no heat, I had two months with no heat, and there were a few people that had no heat at all for the second year in a row," James said. "They don’t care; they just flout the law, they don’t come to court when they’re supposed to come, they just delay, delay, delay.”
On Oct. 25, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a ruling that allows a lawsuit filed by the City of Cleveland against apartment ownership to move forward in Cleveland Housing Court. If the lawsuit prevails, it would allow the City of Cleveland to appoint a receiver to officiate what it called needed safety repairs and take the funds needed for improvements from tenant rent or bill the owners of the property.
Cleveland Law Director and Chief Legal Counsel Mark Griffin told News 5 that the legal action taken against apartment ownership is one of the first of its kind and sends a strong housing enforcement message.
"The Ohio Supreme Court ruling is important because it lets the city go after landlords who put their tenants in danger; it lets us become aggressive with code enforcement so that seniors that are living on the top floors don’t have to walk up because of elevators that don’t work,” Griffin said. “We filed this action because after months of working with the landlord, it still isn’t adequate, and our tenants are still in danger, so we’re going to ask the court to allow us to take control of that with a receiver over the building.”
News 5 contacted New York City ownership of the apartment complex, and it responded immediately, telling us it has already made $1.3 million in needed repairs at the complex. Shaker Square Apartments Owner LLC told News 5 it currently has 17 contractors working to make repairs and has hired a new management team to oversee ongoing improvements.
An apartment complex ownership representative told News 5 he believes the City of Cleveland is bullying the apartment owners into court and is unfairly using them as an example with extreme legal action, not giving management the needed time to make long-term, complicated repairs.
Griffin disagrees and said the Cleveland Law Department is set to move forward with its case in Cleveland Housing Court in the coming weeks.
“These defendants have taken every step possible to delay this case to avoid justice; first, they said the court didn’t have jurisdiction, and they tried to take it to federal court that created delays, then after it was sent back to Judge Scott, then they said no, no, no, Judge Scott must be biased, so they file a motion of disqualification against her,” Griffin said. “I want to send a message to the bad landlords: don’t mess with Cleveland; this is a new day, we’re going to hold you accountable, and with Mayor Bibb, we’re going to make sure everybody is held to the law.”
News 5 is committed to following through on this developing story.
