Where’s the landlord? Home condemned with renter’s family inside
UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. – Emily Lindsey describes her rental home on Appleton Drive as her dream location.
“Not only do I like the area, but my kids don’t want to move,” she said. “They have friends here. Family is close. My son’s school is right here on the corner.”
Yet Lindsey must move. Her home is now condemned. Because it’s where she wants to live, Lindsey says she overlooked the fact she could only get a conditional use permit from University City when she moved there in July 2023. She believed the needed repairs would be handled.
Lindsey said, “…from the plumbing, electricity work, even a few of my windows don’t open.”
She later discovered more problems and asked University City to investigate. Their findings resulted in her rental being condemned.
You can also see violations outside the property, like a pile of broken-up concrete from the old sidewalk.
A code enforcement officer walked up during our interview to offer his sympathy.
“We want to make the home safe and livable for you,” he said.
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“We don’t want anybody to be forced to move from their home, but this particular person is also the one who called for the administrative investigation,” Planning and Development Director Dr. John Wagner said.
“It wasn’t a safe place for her to be. She was breathing in things that she shouldn’t have been breathing in that were unhealthy, so it’s just as much for the people living there as it is for the owner to prod them to take action to fix it.”
Property tax records list the owner in Laguna Hills, California. University City requires a rental home representative to be located within 50 miles. Wagner says the rep in this case is property management company Poplar Homes.
FOX 2 contacted Poplar Homes by phone and heard this message, “I’m sorry, the party you are trying to reach has not set up voicemail.”
FOX 2 then visited Poplar Homes, listed on Old Halls Ferry Road. The door was locked, and no one answered. It appeared that no one was in the building. We saw a door handle and lock box on the ground outside the door, with a note from someone that said, “…would love to be a resource for all your construction and maintenance needs.”
We also called an emergency number listed on the door, out of California. We got another recording that said, “Currently, there are no specialists available to take your call.”
Lindsey said she must “…relocate. That’s the only thing I can do.” She’s uprooting her family as University City hopes its action will finally get results.
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