City gives warning to absentee landlord about property conditions

Nov. 4—Logansport is coming down on an absentee landlord who owns a number of rentals in the city.

At Wednesday's Board of Works meeting, Deputy Mayor Jacob Pomasl gave a warning during extended conversations about seven eyesore properties that needed cleaning up.

Two of those are part of the Wiper Corporation, based out of Boca Raton, Florida, and owned by Vinod Gupta.

"We are done dealing with the Wiper Corporation," Pomasl said.

Gupta has had properties coming before the Board of Works on a regular basis and under four corporation names.

Pomasl told Wiper's local management team to let Gupta know that if his properties keep coming before the Board of Works, board members will put hefty fines on them to get his attention.

The owner needs to take responsibility for the condition of his rentals and "take being a landlord seriously," Pomasl said. "We can't be the enforcer for Mr. Gupta's properties anymore."

Code Enforcer Randy Ulery has other responsibilities and can't perpetually tell Gupta or his managers about the condition of the properties, he said.

The board members put a $5,000 fine on one of the Wiper properties, 1201 North St., which has had seven notices since 2016.

All but one of those were for trash and debris improperly located on the property, including tires, mattresses, electronics, appliances and building materials.

The 2016 notice was for tall grass and weeds.

The Board of Works handles property violations by working with the property owners to bring things up to code, sending city crews to clean properties at the owners' cost and assessing fines as the board members see fit.

There are usually multiple properties before the board each week.

"The gauntlet's been thrown down," Pomasl said. "The landlords in Logansport will not get away with this anymore."

Kristie Doty, who manages the Wiper properties with her husband, said that former tenants were still removing things from the property on North.

The management team has trouble getting access to properties, with some tenants not answering the doors when she knocks.

"We have to fight with tenants to get on the property," said Doty.

The messes are from tenants or people renting to own, she said.

Pomasl said Gupta needs to include language on leases where they can get access after giving enough notice. Ultimately, it's the property owner's responsibility for the condition.

"Excuses are not going to work anymore," he said. "You have to deal with your tenants."

The board did waive a fine for the other Wiper property addressed at the meeting, 1827 High St.

The tenant had come in to talk during the meeting, and Ulery said the property was substantially cleaned up.

However, Pomasl was not happy that Doty and the tenant were discussing the situation in front of the board, and not long before the meeting.

Ulery said Thursday that the Dotys have been addressing problems.

"(Gupta's) property managers are trying their best," he said.

The city doesn't know exactly how many properties are owned by Gupta's four corporations.

Ulery said that on Wednesday, the city found 11 other properties that Gupta owns but aren't registered as rentals with the city.

Even if they're rent-to-own properties, those need to be registered in Cass County until the title switches hands.

However, Doty is working on getting them a list, he added.

Board member Lisa Terry noted winter may affect all the property cleanups.

"This is going to get worse before it gets better," she said. "People don't like to get out and clean in the cold."

Also at the meeting, board members heard about people dumping their trash at apartment dumpsters, including larger items, such as mattresses and construction materials.

Vickie Lebo came to talk about the condition of a property where she recently evicted a tenant and has been cleaning up.

She also talked about her dumpster situation at another address.

"The problem is, when the dumpster's in the alley, people use it," Lebo said.

She has tried locking it, but then people leave trash by it.

It also gets expensive for her not just because of having to wrap mattresses — as required for trash pickup — and buy tags for larger items, but her trash collector charges extra if the dumpster is overflowing.

At one point, Lebo went "dumpster diving" and found mail from people in the neighborhood and gave it to a previous code enforcer.

She never heard back, she said.

City officials will look into current ordinances to see what can be done. However, they may not be strong enough to address the matter.

Terry said that after she is done updating animal ordinances for the city, she plans to work with other city officials on the rental ordinances and ordinances affecting the dumpsters.

That will probably be early next year, she said.

Reach James D. Wolf Jr. at james.wolf@pharostribune.com or 574-732-5117

Twitter @JamesDWolfJr