'He'll evict you in a minute.' Landlord quietly becomes a force in Milwaukee rental business...and eviction court

Show Caption Hide Caption 'He'll evict you in a minute': Landlord becomes a force in Milwaukee Youssef "Joe" Berrada, a native of Morocco who lives in $1.6 million Mequon mansion, has quickly and quietly become a force in the Milwaukee rental business.

A few months after Ernestine Young returned home from a hospital stay last year, she found herself on the basement stairs of her apartment building sobbing.

Her building had recently been bought by a company tied to Youssef "Joe" Berrada, a native of Morocco who has quickly and quietly become a force in the Milwaukee rental business — and the county eviction court.

Berrada is known as "the boulder guy," since his companies frequently put boulders on the lawns of their properties. In all, Berrada companies own 292 properties with more than 3,600 units in the city. Berrada says his organization owns 8,000 rental units nationwide.

Housing advocates in Milwaukee say the companies sometimes run roughshod over tenants and that they are using small claims court as a collection agency. The approximately 75 firms owned by or linked to Berrada — most of them limited liability companies — were behind more than one out of every 10 eviction cases filed last year in the county, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis found.

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Soon after a Berrada LLC bought Young's building on the 5300 block of North 29th Street, the company began renovation work. When Young went to the basement to check her belongings kept in a locked storage area she was shocked to see just how aggressive the workers had been.

Everything was gone, Young said.

Among the vanished belongings: The urn containing the ashes of her infant granddaughter, Miracle Young.

"I just sat on the stairs and cried," Young said. "I was hurt, I was devastated, there were things in there that never will be replaced, my pictures, my family pictures — my siblings' (pictures). My granddaughter's ashes."

Trademark boulders

Berrada, 49, started buying Milwaukee rental properties in the 1990s. His 18-room Mequon home sits on a 5.5-acre estate and is listed on state records as the principal office of his Berrada Properties Management Inc. The $1.6 million mansion is one of eight luxury homes across the country owned or linked to him.

While not well known throughout the city, Berrada's presence can be felt in some neighborhoods, especially on the west and north sides — just look for the ubiquitous boulders.

Or swing past Room 400 of the Milwaukee County Courthouse on just about any afternoon, where Berrada property managers negotiate in the hallway with tenants facing eviction.

Berrada declined, repeatedly, to be interviewed for this story.

"I'm not a media person, I'm not a politician," Berrada told a reporter.

His attorney, Joe Goldberger, would only answer questions by email and began by arguing Berrada should not be the subject of any story. Goldberger said his client is "a particularly private person and wishes to operate his business without unwelcome publicity."

That reticence belies the outsized influence Berrada and his companies have on the lower-income rental market in Milwaukee.

Some city officials praise Berrada, saying he oversees a well-run operation that buys and rehabs neighborhood eyesores. Others express anguish over his companies' aggressive dealings with tenants, particularly through assembly-line evictions.

Even if a tenant agrees to a payment plan and follows it, the original eviction lawsuit almost always remains on the tenant's public record. That can continue to haunt them, hobbling efforts to find new places to live.

"A lot of landlords will deny housing to anyone who has been sued for eviction, regardless of the outcome of the case," said Eric Dunn, litigation director for the National Housing Law Project.

Of Berrada, Ald. Russell Stamper, himself a landlord, said: "He runs a tight ship. He'll evict you in a minute."

Berrada companies filed at least 1,637 eviction lawsuits last year, or 11.6 percent of the 14,157 filed countywide, records shows. On one day alone — Jan. 30, 2017 — Berrada companies filed 99 eviction actions.

That was one of a dozen days last year when Berrada companies filed at least 40 evictions.

"That’s a pretty disproportionate amount," Dunn said.

Some of Berrada's tactics are raising red flags with advocacy groups and attorneys who work with low-income renters. For example:

Repeat actions: Berrada entities repeatedly file eviction actions against the same tenant, often ending each case with an agreement, or stipulation, demanding the tenant pay back rent, court costs and late payment fines. Berrada companies routinely fine tenants $100 when they are 10 days late on rent. Failure to make the stipulation payments on time could result in an eviction.

Some Berrada tenants are sued for eviction as many four times in a year, records show.

"It's using the court system as a mode of collection," said Karen Dardy, chief staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee. "It's a terrible abuse. I don't think it is illegal; I think it's very unethical."

Problematic leases: The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has issued five warning letters since 2015 questioning whether Berrada companies were violating state landlord-tenant law. In two cases — November 2017 and June 2018 — Berrada Properties was warned that a lease is void if it "requires payment by the tenant of attorney fees or costs in any legal action or dispute arising from the rental agreement."

Requiring tenants to pay legal costs in eviction cases "was a part of the standard lease — even though it is prohibited," said Raphael Ramos, director of the Eviction Defense Project in Milwaukee.

No follow-up action was taken by the state, and "Berrada has not provided any additional correspondence, or assurance, regarding those matters," agency spokesman Jerad Albracht said in an email.

Asked whether Berrada companies have changed their practices in response to the warning letters, Goldberger wrote: "As necessary, corrective measures are undertaken on a timely basis."

Quick move-outs: When a Berrada company buys a building, it sometimes wants tenants who are on month-to-month leases to move out within 30 days, so the property can be rehabbed, according to tenants and state records.

"It puts people in harm's way," said Preston Cole, commissioner of the city Department of Neighborhood Services. "I'm concerned, the mayor is concerned. It creates more families that are being dislocated. It creates more trauma."

Goldberger said decisions on whether to move tenants out when a building is purchased are made on a case-by-case basis. When moves are necessary, he said, Berrada officials work with the tenants to ensure a smooth transition.

Bad for her health

In Young's case, she was not asked to leave — though she now she wishes she had left before the rehab work began last year.

Young said that during the rehab work, the front door of her apartment was barricaded for a day, trapping her inside. She couldn't use the back exit because of recently poured cement and ongoing construction, she said.

"I have lung issues and the dust was entering into my apartment," said Young, 59. "I couldn't get out of my apartment."

In addition to Young, another tenant of a Berrada property complained to state regulators that workers screwed her front door shut last year while she was inside. The tenant called the Fire Department to have the door opened, city and state records show.

In an email, Berrada attorney Goldberger denied "that Ms. Young, or for that matter, any of its tenants, have been 'locked' in an apartment."

"I started getting depressed," said Young, who was unemployed and on rent assistance. "I started getting sick."

Young had leg surgery in 2016 and suffers from several chronic conditions including heart and lung disease, chronic pain and vascular disease, according to letters written by health care providers she provided to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"The construction that is occurring in her apartment has significantly affected her health," her physician, Brian Hilgeman, wrote in a 2017 letter to help Young break her lease. "Her anxiety is much worse and her breathing has worsened."

Access to her apartment in April 2017 was difficult, according to a letter from Jennifer McClain, a nurse with MyChoice Family Care, written as Young was pursuing legal action.

"The door was blocked by construction materials, and we had to knock on Ms. Young's window to announce our arrival," McClain wrote. "When Ms. Young's family member answered the door, the construction materials had to be moved aside and the door could only be opened a small degree to allow entry into apartment building."

She noted the grass near the entry "was dug up, uneven, and a fall risk."

Young twice sued Berrada Properties for throwing out her belongings. The first lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality. The second suit was heading for trial until April, when Berrada Properties Management agreed to pay Young $5,000 to settle, said attorney Amanda Adrian, who represented Young through Legal Aid.

Goldberger told the Journal Sentinel that sometimes Berrada Properties will make the "business decision" to settle a lawsuit. Adrian said the company did not initially treat it as a nuisance settlement.

"They were really fighting us," she said. "It's amazing how hard they fight over relatively small amounts of money."

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Desiree Rodriguez, a school bus driver, was hit with an eviction suit last year by a Berrada company, but later won a $3,400 default judgment against a Berrada company, which she said did not return her security deposit. The company quickly sought a do-over.

In June, Rodriguez won round two when Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Laura Gramling Perez rejected a motion by Berrada Properties 22 LLC to reopen the case. The company has since paid her the $3,400.

"He just seems to be going around buying a ton of stuff — and a ton of boulders," Rodriguez said.

Last year, Berrada entities filed 670 more evictions than they filed in 2016; countywide the increase for all landlords was just 685. Berrada companies went from filing 2.5 percent of all evictions in the county in 2013 to 5.7 percent in 2015.

The Berrada filings in 2017 included 265 so-called serial filings — that is, suits filed against the same person on multiple occasions, the Journal Sentinel found.

Ten tenants were hit with eviction suits filed by Berrada companies four times, 55 were sued three times and more than 200 received two eviction actions.

"If you're renting a place for $600 and you get taken to court three times, it's like you're paying an extra month's rent," because of the fees and court costs that a tenant often agrees to pay, said Matthew Desmond, author of "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" — a Pulitzer Prize-winning book that examines evictions in Milwaukee.

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Goldberger said the multiple evictions are a byproduct of working with a tenant. For example, if an agreed-upon payment plan — which often includes the client paying late fees and Berrada's court costs — is not followed, it can result in additional evictions.

"That’s unfortunate, but completely understandable," Goldberger wrote.

Jeff Myer, litigation director at Legal Action of Wisconsin, said such repeat filings turn the court into the landlord's bill collector.

"They are armed with the most powerful threat government has — short of jail," he said of landlords. "They can move you out of your home."

A growing portfolio

In 2002, Berrada owned just 16 properties with a market value of about $5 million, according to documents he filed in his divorce case. Today, the 3,600 rental units Berrada's companies own cover 3.2 million square feet, roughly the size of 55 football fields. The properties have an assessed value of $137.6 million, according to city records.

Since 2015, Berrada companies have bought 88 Milwaukee properties.

"Pretty soon he'll be the dominant owner of property on the near west side — if not the only property owner," said Ald. Robert Bauman, who represents the area.

Sometimes Berrada is the guy landlords in trouble turn to when they need to sell in a hurry.

Last year, his companies bought seven properties from James Herrick, the River Hills millionaire and Robert W. Baird Inc. executive, who rented out dilapidated central city properties loaded with building code violations.

This year, Berrada companies picked up four properties from Elijah Mohammad Rashaed, whose properties have been effectively placed in receivership as part of the city attorney's effort to drive him out of the business.

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Still, Berrada remains largely unknown in political and business circles.

He's not a big contributor to politicians, and he doesn't belong to the trade group that represents Milwaukee area landlords. Several Milwaukee power brokers shook their head when asked if they had heard of him.

Drone view of landlord Youssef Berrada's million dollar Mequon home The Mequon home of Youssef Berrada, a landlord owns more than 300 buildings and 3500 rental units in the Milwaukee area.

Berrada moved to Milwaukee in the 1986-'87 school year and attended South Milwaukee High School as a foreign exchange student. He was on the school's tennis and volleyball teams and was initiated into the National Honor Society.

In 1990, he graduated from Marquette University with a degree in engineering.

During a brief discussion a couple of years ago, Bauman said, Berrada told him his family was involved in "buying, rehabbing and reselling heavy construction equipment" in Morocco and that he had some business interests in Europe.

Records show Berrada or companies linked to him paid more than $17 million to buy homes and a luxury condo in Maui; Boca Roton, Fla.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Chicago; San Diego and near Las Vegas. Included in the tab is a $1.1 million home on a 15-acre lot on the shores of Lake Michigan in Oostburg in Sheboygan County.

Berrada has been known to own and tool around in pricey cars, such as a Ferrari, Bentley, BMW or Aston Martin — the car made famous in James Bond movies.

He owns a 49-foot yacht and is the president of YB Falcon Inc., a Delaware corporation that owns a Mystere Falcon 900 jet, records show. He also owns a helicopter, his ex-wife said in a 2017 court filing.

Little is known about the operation of his businesses.

"I don't even know how he does it and I was married to him," said Vikki Bearden-Berrada, who court records show was married to Berrada from 1991 to 2003 and lived with him from 2009 to 2017.

One of the few times Berrada's name has appeared in the news came in 2008 when Bearden-Berrada was charged with three counts of reckless endangerment for driving her Hummer on the lawn of the Mequon estate and attempting to run over her ex-husband and the couple's then 9-year-old daughter.

The incident occurred when Bearden-Berrada was served with eviction papers seeking to throw her out of a Mequon house she was renting from a Berrada company.

A jury found her not guilty in 2009.

Bearden-Berrada knew enough about her ex-husband's finances to last year negotiate an increase in child support payments for their two teenage children from $2,500 a month to $10,000. Berrada also gave his ex-wife a 2015 BMW X5 as part of the agreement.

'We work very hard'

Berrada companies paid property taxes of $3.3 million last year, and Berrada paid state income tax of $114,111 in 2016, up from $13,061 in 2015, records show.

Berrada operations generally make repairs that are ordered by the city in a timely manner.

"He doesn't present himself as a bad actor," said Cole, the commissioner of the neighborhood services department.

Over the past eight years, city building inspectors have cited Berrada properties with more than 1,300 violations, ranging from the mundane to the serious. At nearly two dozen properties, inspectors found 20-plus violations each; four had more than 40 violations. Citations included inadequate heat, broken windows, lack of fire extinguishers, lack of secure, locking outside doors and infestations of rodents or bed bugs.

Cole said he did not know whether Berrada's reputation for aggressive evictions stops tenants from filing complaints, but noted: "People are deathly afraid to turn in a landlord."

In April, Berrada appeared before a Common Council committee that was considering selling a city-owned, fire-damaged property to his operation.

"We respond to every maintenance issue, we have a good relationship with the Department of Neighborhood Services … the commissioner, he gives us good grades," Berrada told aldermen. "We work very hard every day to do better.

"I feel we have a good, over 95% approval rate," he said, referring to audit by an unnamed company Berrada said had reviewed his operations.

Berrada told the aldermen there were only about 30 vacancies in the 8,000 rental units nationwide his operation owned.

As for the boulders, Berrada said they're placed to prevent tenants from driving on the lawn.

Several tenants, including some who were sued for eviction, said the properties were in generally in good condition and well-maintained. Others have raised complaints.

In 2015, Stephen Toliver was pleased to land an apartment in a newly purchased Berrada property on West Silver Spring Drive. Recently released from prison after doing more than 23 years following a conviction stemming from a 1991 homicide, he looked forward to moving into a renovated apartment.

At first conditions were good, Toliver said. But, after a year or so, conditions declined.

"I'd rather live in a cell," Toliver said. "I kept a clean cell."

Among the problems, Toliver said, were insect infestations, broken doors, vandalized mailboxes and drug dealers hanging around — a claim supported by a second ex-tenant and a neighbor.

Toliver said he urged other residents who were voicing similar complaints to stop paying rent and complain to the city.

Toliver was sued for eviction last year. In court, Toliver argued he never got the notice to pay his rent or face eviction because several mailboxes in the building, including his, had been vandalized and were unusable.

"You can't get mail without a mailbox," said Ramos of the Eviction Project, which represented him in the case.

Goldberger, the Berrada attorney, said Toliver received proper notice of the eviction. He did not respond to questions about whether the mailboxes were usable at the time. Sean Hargadon, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman, said information about the mailboxes was "proprietary."

Toliver's name has since been sealed in the court record. Judges seldom seal a tenant's name, doing so only if the tenant can prove a flaw in the eviction, such as a lack of service or the rent really was paid.

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Several months after Toliver moved out, a different tenant complained to the city about the building's condition. In March, building inspectors cited the Berrada company that owns the property for 14 violations, including missing or broken doors, holes in the walls, missing fire extinguishers and roaches.

Inspectors ordered the violations be fixed by April 8, but the city failed to schedule a follow-up inspection until last week — after the Journal Sentinel asked whether repairs had been made.

A Journal Sentinel reporter and photographer observed two large holes in the wall in the hallway of the building when a tenant invited them into the building in May.

Inspectors checked the building last week and all of the ordered repairs had been made, a DNS spokesperson said.

Goldberger told the Journal Sentinel the tenants who caused the damage to the property have been "removed" and Berrada Properties is replacing all exterior doors with "security enhanced doors."

"Berrada Properties Management, Inc. has a history of promptly and fully addressing matters which result in the issuance of an order by the City," he wrote.

Boulders everywhere

On the west side, a 28-year-old man who asked to remain anonymous said that when he and his girlfriend first moved into a Berrada building on West Wisconsin Avenue near Marquette High School, everything was fine. They liked the neighborhood, which gave the couple good access to transportation to get to their jobs.

But as time went on and things broke, service was slow or sloppy, the man said. When there was some mold in the ceiling workers simply painted it over — basically guaranteeing the mold would return. It did.

So why not move?

"Where am I going to go," he said, gesturing toward an area a couple blocks away on Wells Street where boulders are on the lawns of nine apartment buildings linked to Berrada in a two-block area. "He owns everything here."