Jess Aloe

Free Press Staff Writer

Months after a judge dismissed 88 criminal counts brought against him by the city, landlord Soon Kwon is still tangling with the City of Burlington over living conditions in his rental properties, which he markets toward college students.

The city's code enforcement director, Bill Ward, said Kwon currently has eight open violations at two Burlington properties. Though far less than the 90 open violations Kwon was facing in January 2016, the month before the city charged him with failure to comply with inspection orders related to violations of the minimum housing code, Ward said the city's goal is "full compliance" with the code.

Earlier:

Kwon has sold two of his Burlington apartment buildings since Judge James Crucitti ordered the 88 counts dismissed in August 2016. But tenants at one of Kwon's remaining properties, 41 South Williard St., say problems there persist.

Henry Sollitt, a student at University of Vermont who graduates this year, moved into the first-floor apartment in August. Soon after, his ceiling began leaking. He raised his concerns with Kwon in September, he said, but the problem persisted. The leak showed up again in October multiple times.

A substance he believed to be sewage has come into his room as well, he said. Sollitt said Kwon has told him the leaks are results of the tenants upstairs, overloading a washing machine, or failing to use a shower curtain.

As winter set in, he said, the temperature in his room plummeted below the 65-degree limit Burlington's ordinance sets as the standard for habitation. When code enforcement began temperature monitoring, they found two bedrooms under the limit in the six-bedroom unit. Sollitt's roommate, Lucas Butterfield, sent a letter to Kwon in February stating that both he and his mother had attempted, numerous times, to notify Kwon about the temperature issue. Kwon's solution of providing space heaters was an unsafe option, Butterfield wrote.

"I believe the problem stems from a lack of insulation in my room," he wrote. "Perhaps you could address this problem and avoid future problems with tenants."

Sollitt has moved out of the room he rents for $720, he said, and sleeps on a pull-out couch in his roommate's room. Other issues with the unit include half-finished construction that tenants say has been left untouched for months. Sollitt believes a wall left without insulation caused a pipe to burst in December.

Code enforcement documents show years of tenant complaints about heating issues in the unit and the leak in Sollitt's bedroom. Sollitt said he heard some stories about Kwon prior to moving into the apartment, but said it was hard for him to understand the full extent until he'd moved into the unit.

"It's really difficult to convey that it is that bad," he said. He added that the tight Burlington housing market for students made a six-bedroom apartment close to campus and downtown, like Kwon's, tempting to rent.

In his testimony to the Housing Board of Review, which heard the case of 41 S. Williard in March, Sollitt said he believed the problem was made worse because Kwon rented to college students.

College students don't have the resources or time to address issues, Sollitt said. In addition, they move around often, making it difficult for the problem to be resolved before they move on.

Patti Wehman, a case manager for Code Enforcement, reiterated Sollitt's point at the same hearing.

"This is my third winter with the Code Enforcement office, and this is my third time there’s been a heat issue," she said. "And what happens is we run out winter and so the tenants leave, and it starts all over again when the weather turns cold again next fall with a new set of tenants."

In a later interview, Wehman said that in order for code enforcement to lodge violations for heat issues, the city agency had to be able to document that the rooms were below the city threshold for habitability — increasingly difficult as weather warms.

A woman who identified herself as Kwon's wife said Kwon was unavailable for an interview, but in testimony to the Housing Board of Review, he said he believed the city's ordinance required him to offer facilities capable of maintaining a temperature of 65 degrees, not that he had to maintain 65 degrees.

If the outside temperature was cold, he said, the rooms might get cold, and argued that he had provided space heaters for the tenants to use. He also said that other tenants of his were able to manage their heat by raising or lowering the thermostat.

"I don’t know what temperature [the thermostat] has to be set at to get it to 65," Kwon said.

"I would not think it fair to require the tenants to have their thermostat at full blast in order to maintain the minimum temperature of a bedroom for it be habitable when we are responsible for the cost of heat," Sollitt said.

In addition, Kwon argued that the leak in Sollitt's room was caused by the second floor tenants' misuse of a shower.

Burlington's Housing Board of Review heard the case on March 20, and will issue a decision by the end of April. Code Enforcement has agreed to hold off further inspection of the unit until after the board issues its ruling.

The city is requesting that the board uphold the Code Enforcement decision that the deficiencies were valid; require that the orders be complied with; require that the ceiling leak be fixed by a licensed plumber and require a third-party inspection to confirm the heating system is sufficiently heating the property.

Sollitt said that Kwon has told him the only way for him to move out early is to find someone to take over his lease, something he said he'd feel uncomfortable doing.

"I couldn't in good faith have someone pay for that room. It makes my stomach turn that I have to pay $720 for that room," he said.

Contact Jess Aloe at 802-660-1874 or jaloe@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @jess_aloe