Judge orders cleanup of Ypsilanti Township home with 13 inhabitants, raw sewage leak
Ypsilanti Township officials say 13 people were living in a home on Rambling Road.
Tom Perkins | For AnnArbor.com
A judge has ordered an Ypsilanti Township home vacated, boarded and secured after a family of 13 was discovered living in it.
Township officials allege the landlord was refusing to fix extremely dangerous wiring and a pipe that was leaking raw sewage into a crawl space.
There also were too many people living in the 852-square-foot home. Township ordinance requires 150-square-feet for each inhabitant.
Eight children were living in the home at 1345 Rambling Road and the family has relocated, said Ypsilanti Township Building Inspector Ron Fulton. Washtenaw County Children's Protective Services was contacted.
According to a verified petition filed with the court, building inspectors found wall-to-wall dirty mattresses in the bedrooms, and wrote that the home is crowded with "things" and generally unsanitary.
Officials aren’t sure of the family’s whereabouts, but Washtenaw County Circuit Judge David Swartz entered an order prohibiting anyone from entering the property until the landlord and its owner, Joseph Heath, appears in court.
Fulton said the township is hopeful the judge will order the home repaired within 30 days, and he added that the township has had similar problems with Heath in the past.
The former tenants called the township because they were fed up with the landlord failing to return their calls or respond to issues in the home, Fulton said.
“Their concern was that they were renting this home and they knew they had too many people living there, but the owner refused to fix anything and refused to answer their calls,” he said.
Fulton said a television plug put into the primary outlet began sparking, caught on fire and melted. When the plug was pulled out of the outlet, the metal prong broke off and remains a live electrical hazard that could have easily shocked one of the children.
The breaker box also was open and had nothing but live, bare wires hanging in a cluster, Fulton said.
“It is totally irresponsible and the fact that the owner never called them back to assist them obviously bothers me to no end,” he said.
Comments
Sue
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 5:28 p.m.
I wish this article would have provided more information, like, of the 5 adults living in the home, how many are working and paying taxes, how many of them are receiving welfare and possibly getting multiple rent monies for the same home, were any of them here illegally, were any of them the actual parents of the children, were the children being cared for or were they being neglected or abused in any way, etc. I'm so sick of the liberal media reporting about the "poor victims", many of which are scamming our system for all they can get, then complaining when everything isn't up to whatever standard they feel they're entitled to. If the plumbing needed fixing, they should have fixed it themselves. At least one of those 5 adults should know something about home repairs, if not they could have hired it done with the money they have coming in from somewhere. If renters (or people in general) want to be protected under our laws, then they should have to be abiding by our laws themselves. They knew they were over the legal number of people that were supposed to be living in that house, so they should be held responsible for any damages. If the owner and landlord knew about it as well, then they should also be held responsible, but my guess is that they did not know.
lefty48197
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 4:59 p.m.
Slum lords should lose the right to rent out properties
Ralph
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 12:53 p.m.
Ypsilanti does not have the corner on blight. As an inspector I see this kind of stuff all over the County and in some pretty high rent areas. You would be surprised to know who owns some of these places.
Tom Todd
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 9:04 p.m.
the economy is horrible are people really surprised by any of this,wow how naive.
genetracy
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 1:37 a.m.
I remember back in the 70's, the Ypsilanti Press would publish a daily photo called "The Blight of the Day". It would usually be some ramshackle dump like the above photo. I guess the paper wanted to shame the owners into fixing the places up.
genetracy
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 1:32 a.m.
The family would be much better off financially if they moved to Ann Arbor and panhandled on the streets and freeway ramps.
jns131
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 3:36 p.m.
Thank you bleeding heart for taking our panhandlers off our hands. One less thing to worry about.
Cathy
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 1:26 a.m.
This sounds as if Joseph Heath owns the landlord.
Dutch Thomas
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 1:05 a.m.
more punishing the victims for the sake of the owner. Township got them out at taxpayer expense. He can sell and get a profit then file bankruptcy...that is the usual MO. All he has to do is create another "person" and call it a corporation Done and Done.
Angry Moderate
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 3:44 p.m.
How is he going to sell THAT house for a profit?
brad
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 2:49 a.m.
The article makes it sound like the tenants moved before notifying the township of conditions, per references to "former tenants" who aren't able to be located.
Jay Thomas
Sun, Aug 19, 2012 : 10:17 p.m.
Ypsi is the blight capitol of Washtenaw county...
salinemom2712
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 1:27 a.m.
No, they're just willing to expose it in an effort to eliminate it. Good job Ypsi Township!
tdw
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 3:41 p.m.
you lie peroid..You can stick your nose as much as much up as you want....You are not one bit better than us in Ypsi sorry to break the news to you
jns131
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 3:35 p.m.
Hate to say it, but Ann Arbor is. There is something called Main street blight? We tear ours down once it is know. Got another negative rating from a rather irate denizen.
Pretty Gritty
Sun, Aug 19, 2012 : 9:15 p.m.
I can understand being poor, but at what point do you start putting things In your front yard. I mean if I lose all of my money will have have an urge to put a sofa or an old dryer in my yard?
Cathy
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 1:23 a.m.
The windows are boarded up, so it seems likely that the picture was taken after the family moved. We do not know how that stuff ended up there, or why.
nickcarraweigh
Sun, Aug 19, 2012 : 5:33 p.m.
Does the 852 square feet include walk-in closets? The landlord could be Mother Teresa and the rental unit the Garden of Eden and it would still be grossly overcrowded, if the Garden of Eden was 852 square feet.
Billy
Sun, Aug 19, 2012 : 5:12 p.m.
""Their concern was that they were renting this home and they knew they had too many people living there, but the owner refused to fix anything and refused to answer their calls," he said." Not excusing the property owner here...but what happens with 100% of the problems and damage done to the house is caused by the tenants...who then refuse to either pay to fix what they broke, or refuse to pay rent until you fix it. The root of the problem is the entitled mentality and refusal to take responsibility...on both sides here.
jns131
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 3:32 p.m.
Ypsi Twp will have the house torn down with the year. Unlike certain other cities that take forever to go thru. Hint Ann Arbor. We township folk get our people.
HB11
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 11:55 a.m.
@Billy, totally agree with your statement. @Cathy, 13 people VS. one toilet.
Cathy
Mon, Aug 20, 2012 : 1:20 a.m.
The article does not indicate if the family that was living there caused the problems with the house. Frankly, I would be surprised if the tenants were responsible for a leaking sewer pipe.