Landlord accused of uninhabitable properties no longer with Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — 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 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.
Regarding the accusations, Liu has not provided the J&C with comments when asked for previous articles, but he has provided comments to the Purdue Exponent regarding these claims.
Liu insists he’s never evicted anyone for any reason, other than late rent, he told the Exponent.
"Liu said his tenants are “desperate.” He acknowledges that many of them are in poverty and have multiple previous evictions on their records.
“No one else will rent to them … If I don’t rent to them, they’ll be out on the street,” Liu said. “I am willing to work with them”," according to the Exponent.
On Aug. 16, after the J&C again confirmed with Purdue Liu's continued relationship with the university, the Purdue Exponent reported that Liu settled a lawsuit with a Purdue student and her husband suing him over damages to their property.
The Exponent reported that Liu offered to pay the couple the settlement in cash outside the courthouse.
“When Liu got to his car, the landlord counted out a small stack of $100 and $50 bills and attempted to hand the wad of money to an Exponent reporter, in front of the couple,” according to the Exponent.
"Don't do anything,"’ the article quotes Liu as saying. The Exponent added the student reporter refused the money and also reported Liu then said he would not pay the couple while the reporter was taking pictures of him.
The J&C asked Purdue for more details about the university's decision to end its connection with Liu but did not receive an answer by the time of reporting.
Liu’s involvement with the university
According to Purdue University’s records, Liu began working at the West Lafayette campus on July 1, 2010, as an adjunct professor in the statistics department.
Although Liu is listed as an adjunct faculty member, the J&C reviewed Purdue West Lafayette’s campus statistics class catalog from Summer 2010 through Spring 2023 and did not find a listing where Liu taught a single class for the department.
Purdue University defines an adjunct faculty member as: “An individual appointed to an academic rank upon Proper Recommendation who is not on the payroll of the University but is paid directly by an outside agency (e.g., the federal government, state of Indiana, another educational institution, or other organization), and who is assigned teaching responsibilities and/or participates in a joint or cooperative project with Purdue University. As a member of the faculty of the department and college/school to which the individual is appointed, they enjoy the same academic freedom as other faculty members. As an employee of an outside agency, they are not eligible for tenure with Purdue, nor do they go through the faculty promotion process.”
While Liu, by definition, could have been hired for a joint or cooperative project with university staff rather than an educational role, the actual role is unclear.
The J&C filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act on July 3, 2023, to obtain copy of Liu’s contract with the university, a list of classes that he taught and his salary with the university.
The J&C has yet to receive a copy of his contract or a list of classes he taught, but it did receive the salary book of the university dating back to 2013. Liu did not appear in any of those records.
Liu’s rental history
Liu first began acquiring property in Tippecanoe County in 2009 and 2010, but it wasn’t until 2016 when Liu began purchasing properties to serve as rentals, according to the Beacon web-based GIS program.
During his first few years of purchasing properties, it appears that Liu only owned around 25 non-personal properties, although Beacon does not show any previous properties that Liu may have owned during this period that he may have sold.
It was not until 2020 that Liu’s property portfolio began to balloon. Between 2020 to 2022, Liu purchased around 58 properties and in 2023, he purchased a few new properties.
When the J&C initially reported on Liu back in June, he owned around 80 properties across the Greater Lafayette area, but since then his property count has jumped to 90:
2016 - 5
2017 - 12
2018 - 4
2019 - 4
2020 - 16
2021 - 20
2022 - 22
2023 - 6
According to Beacon records, Liu owns 80 within the City of Lafayette, nine within the city of West Lafayette and one in Battle Ground.
The average cost of each property is just over $62,400.
When removing the cost of his personal property — purchased at $538,888 — and the properties that are either missing a purchasing price or are labeled as $0, the average price jumps to $68,703.
According to Beacon, 15 of the properties Liu purchased were labeled as $0.
Liu’s eviction history for 2023
The J&C has recently observed several small claims court hearings and found Liu appears far more often to other landlords within the county.
While it's common to see other landlords give their tenants several opportunities to catch up on rent before ultimately moving to resolve the situation in court, this is not routinely the case for Liu.
If an individual was late to pay rent by five days and they weren’t able to work out a deal, he has filed an eviction order with the court.
During the duration of 2023, Liu filed 84 evictions with the highest amount coming in July, when he filed 22 evictions. Liu reportedly was out of the country in June, when he had filed three eviction suits and asked for a continuance on them.
Evictions by Liu per month so far in 2023:
January – 9
February – 15
March – 5
April – 11
May – 10
June – 3
July – 22
August - 9
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: Landlord accused of uninhabitable properties no longer with Purdue
