Journal & Courier investigation: Indiana law limits local involvement in rental issues
Lafayette: A landlord's 'playpen'
For the past couple of months, the Journal & Courier has been investigating and documenting stories of tenants who have felt mistreated in Lafayette's renters' market.
This investigation initially started after a couple reached out to the newspaper and shared their living situation, the dilapidated condition of the house they were renting. During the investigation, the J&C also created a free renters rights guide for anyone considering a move to Indiana.
Here is a compilation of the stories in this ongoing series. The J&C will update this compilation with each newly published story within the series.
Purdue professor ducks accusations of being an "unethical" landlord; evictions mount
For the last three months of their lease, Angela Moody and Randall Tanksely lived in a tent in their backyard.
This wasn’t because the couple wanted to experience the great outdoors from the safe distance of their rented apartment.
The couple said they had come to believe the house they were renting from Chaofeng Liu (or Charles Lee, as his tenants know him) was completely uninhabitable.
While speaking with Angela Moody, one of the people forced to live outside, she pondered what could be done to safeguard renters from such experiences.
"How can the city let these landlords treat us like this? Lafayette is like their playpen and we're just their playthings," Moody said.
Tanksely told the Journal & Courier that during the first few months of living inside the house, the couple began developing respiratory issues, rashes on their bodies and were in a constant lethargic state. Tanksely believed that it was due to significant exposure to black mold.
The Journal & Courier, which spent two weeks addressing references in the couple's claims, reached out to Liu for comment about the allegations that his previous tenants were making about the buildings they rented from him.
Liu, an adjunct statistics professor at Purdue University, said he preferred not to comment.
The J&C reached out to Purdue University for a comment regarding Liu's history at the university.
Liu was hired in July 2010 and is currently active as an adjunct faculty member, according to Tim Doty, senior director of media and public relations of the university
Lafayette's "hands are tied" when trying to deal with dilapidated rentals
News of Angela Moody and Randall Tanksely’s living conditions upset local officials, but it didn't surprise them.
“We use all the tools that are available to us through state law," Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski said, "but state law does limit what role government can play or a municipality can play in the rental world.
“Although, I think it’s important to have this community discussion to show that our housing stock is very important, and the quality of our housing stock is just as important.”
The city’s “hands are tied,” until tenants request an inspection, said Phil Latshaw, Lafayette’s building inspector.
The tools that the city uses to determine if a property is habitable are primarily the state’s unsafe building law and a voluntary housing inspection request.
“You can look around, in downtown and in other places and see examples of great landlords — people taking care of their properties and doing the right thing," Roswarski said. "But then, unfortunately, not everybody is as conscientious and as inclined to take care of their properties and to treat their tenants appropriately.”
As Hoosier renters, what rights do you have? Different than your landlord's rights
The Journal & Courier sat down with the Legal Aid Corporation of Tippecanoe County and Tippecanoe County Superior Court 7 Judge Daniel Moore to obtain the information provided in this free guide.
The focus of this guide is for an individual living in Indiana who hopes to learn about their rights as a tenant in the state.
For individuals looking for specific information or aid regarding their county, they can visit indianalegalhelp.org/get-help.
Indiana Legal Help was a program created by the Indiana Bar Foundation in 2018 with the goal of making it easier for all Hoosiers to find legal assistance.
An eviction holds a family back from finding housing, forcing them to live in a hotel
Days before her birthday, Morgan Rose and her partner, Dontaniel Robinson, visited a storage unit that held the life they once lived before an eviction.
Rose was in search of a bounce house that she owned and wanted to take to her parents for the weekend.
As she lifted the storage unit's door, a mountain of boxes and memories appeared before her eyes. She took a moment to think of where the bounce house might be in the maze of her past. She soon realized that it would be an almost impossible task to find it without placing her boxes in Thursday's falling rain.
'They are villains': Lafayette leader calls for change dealing with certain landlords
For the past couple of months, the Journal & Courier has been documenting the stories of residents who have been living in what they describe as dilapidated buildings run by local landlords.
The J&C has also detailed what limited tools the city leaders have at their disposal when trying to deal with these allegations.
Those tales preceded a crescendo moment at a recent Lafayette City Council meeting, when Perry Brown, the District 3 city councilman, took a moment to tell his fellow councilmembers that the city needed to take real action in addressing the mistreatment of renters throughout the city.
“Once again, we’re in a situation where we ain’t going to make no friends. We need to do something about this,” Brown told his colleagues.
A father's journey after surviving a stabbing and an eviction
When Melvin Moon woke up in his hospital bed on April 5, the first question that crossed his mind wasn’t, "How am I alive." It was, "Where is my son?"
Just the day prior, Moon was found in critical condition lying on the sidewalk outside of his Overlook Pointe apartment covered in blood and with a knife wound on his upper body.
He had been stabbed in the chest by R’Neitress Bowie, according to authoritites, after Moon asked her to leave his apartment, according to prosecutors who charged Bowie with attempted murder and four other charges.
Moon was in the process of hiring Bowie as a caregiver for his disabled son, Melvin Moon Jr., but had become unsatisfied with her services, which led to him asking her to leave.
In response, she stabbed him, according to prosecutors.
The prosecutor's probable cause affidavit states that Bowie had been living with Moon since January, working as his son’s caregiver after she had been evicted from her previous residence.
As Moon lie near death on the sidewalk, Melvin Jr. was in his bed yards away inside the apartment, unable to help his father.
In November 2009, Lafayette police found Melvin Jr. unconscious and without a pulse. His mother, Senora L. Wheeler, had been sitting on top of him and suffocating her then-3-year-old son, leaving him grasping for air.
He was rushed to the hospital, where they discovered he had suffered severe brain damage from oxygen deprivation, and because of that, Melvin Jr. now has a limited mental capacity.
He is on a ventilator and needs 24/7 care.
Judge dismisses stabbing victim's eviction case; landlord admits renting unfinished house
After months of setbacks, from being stabbed, being evicted from his apartment for being stabbed and then being moved into an unhabitable house with his disabled son — Monday’s decision was the first victory Melvin Moon Sr. had achieved in a while.
Superior Court 7 Judge Daniel Moore heard the eviction case Monday against Moon that was filed by his landlord, Chaofeng Liu, an adjunct statistics professor at Purdue University and who is also known as Charles Lee. Liu filed the lawsuit to evict Moon on July 10.
Prior to walking into the courtroom, Moon was concerned about how this additional eviction on his record could potentially lead to him and his son needing to live on the streets.
After hearing arguments from both Moon and Liu, Moore set aside the lease, ending the eviction that Liu filed against Moon.
Landlord accused of uninhabitable properties no longer with Purdue
Purdue University no longer has ties to Chaofeng Liu, an adjunct professor of statistics whose tenants had alleged he was an irresponsible landlord.
In early summer, former tenants of Liu brought attention to the conditions of his properties and alleged he was unwilling to address many of the concerns raised by his tenants.
The Journal & Courier reported on several properties associated with Liu, as well as highlighted the limitations that local governments face when dealing with landlords accused of inaction.
Earlier this week, the J&C was told independent of Purdue that Liu no longer worked for the university, despite information that as of Aug. 16, 2023, he was still employed with Purdue. Because of his adjunct status, Liu was not receiving pay from the university since he was not currently teaching a class.
The J&C again reached out to Purdue University spokesman Tim Doty, who confirmed this statement to be true.
The J&C called Liu in hopes of receiving a comment about this development but were unable to reach him before publication.
Lafayette orders Chaofeng Liu to vacate two of his properties out of safety concern
The city of Lafayette’s Hearing Authority took a major step Tuesday in addressing some of Chaofeng Liu’s reported dilapidated properties by ordering the landlord to vacate two of his locations and repair them within a month to the city’s standards.
Over the summer, Lafayette’s Engineering & Public Works office received numerous calls from residents throughout the city requesting to have their residential buildings inspected to determine if those buildings were considered habitable.
Six of those calls, according to information provided at the hearing, were in relation to Liu’s properties, and two of them didn’t meet that standard.
Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter at 1NoePadilla.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette officials limited in helping rentals resolve allegations
