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A Portland woman has added racial discrimination to the long list of accusations against landlords at an East Portland apartment complex who allegedly ignored complaints of unsafe conditions and unfair rent increases.
A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court this morning slams the real estate company A&G Management with more allegations of mistreating tenants at the Ash Street Properties in Southeast Portland, where rents were hiked last year by 45 percent.
Lakesha Kennedy, who had to move to Arizona for several months to sleep on a friends' couch before returning to Portland, says the company ignored her pleas for better conditions and wrongfully charged her for damages she wasn't responsible for.
Kennedy's lawsuit also alleges that A&G management treated her differently than the other tenants facing the same $375 rent increase. The company lodged an eviction suit against Kennedy, even though she says she gave her landlord notice that she would be moving out of the apartment by October 2016.
Kennedy's suit alleges that A&G Management did not file the same eviction case against any of its white tenants who had also withheld rent and given notice that they would be moving out.
She also says she was never given login credentials that would have allowed her to lodge formal complaints about her living conditions despite the fact that she filled out the proper paperwork. She says she heard from her white neighbors that they had been given credentials.
When Kennedy moved out, A&G Management billed her for a carpet cleaning and broken blinds – but Kennedy says the carpets were dirty and blinds broken when she moved in. Her landlord hired a third-party debt collector to go after the $2,092 it says Kennedy owes.
"This case is personal for me," said Kennedy's lawyer Michael Fuller, who is also representing other tenants suing the real estate company. "When I was about Ms. Kennedy's daughter's age I lived in similar apartments with my single mom. We felt powerless and outraged and the landlord wouldn't do anything about it. I can't wait to try this case before a jury."
A&G Management could not immediately be reached for comment.
Kennedy's suit alleges that her landlords refused to act when she reported the gang activity of a neighbor, putting both Kennedy and her 10-year-old daughter in danger. Even after a gang-related shooting occurred just feet away from Kennedy's apartment, the lawsuit says A&G Management failed to address the problem.
She also claims an upstairs neighbor allowed a dog to urinate on the back porch. The dog pee leaked onto Kennedy's balcony—and A&G Management allegedly did nothing to stop the behavior or clean the urine.
The suit goes on to accuse the company of "multiple health and sanitation violations for damage to doors and windows, faulty latches and locks, inadequately secured plumbing and fixtures, and fire-related safety violations including lack of adequate smoke detectors."
A&G Management first received public scrutiny for raising rents on its tenants by 45 percent, hiking rates from about $825 to $1200. Kennedy joined a group of tenants in her building to demand compensation for the untenable conditions they say they lived in.