A class action lawsuit has accused one of Chicago’s largest landlords of allegedly misleading tenants into believing they are receiving newly remodeled apartments, when instead they are allegedly often left with homes infested with mold, rats or other pests, or suffering from other problems.
Then, tenants are often allegedly improperly charged to fix the problems or threatened with eviction if they object or publicly complain, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed July 18 in Cook County Circuit Court against Pangea Properties and a litany of allegedly related corporate entities.
Christopher Wilmes
| Hughes Socol
The lawsuit accuses Pangea of violating both Illinois law and Chicago city consumer protection and health and safety ordinances.
While Pangea allegedly advertises clean and updated apartments, the company “conceals from tenants and prospective tenants its large record of building code violations, ongoing habitability issues in its buildings, the slow or nonexistent responses to tenant requests for maintenance, and its position as Chicago’s leader in evictions,” the complaint alleges.
According to the complaint, Pangea entered the Chicago real estate market in 2009 in the midst of the Great Recession, purchasing buildings throughout the city, with the stated goal of rehabbing them into desirable places to live once more.
In the years since, the complaint said, Pangea has grown into the largest apartment landlord in the city, now holding “at least 423 residential properties with more than 7,500 rental units.”
The company reportedly holds 13,000 rental units in Illinois, Indiana and Maryland, primarily in Chicago, Indianapolis and Baltimore. The properties are allegedly held by an array of 146 corporate entities, designed “to shield (Pangea) from liability.”
According to the complaint, a large number of Pangea’s Chicago tenants are low income, disabled or elderly. The complaint notes Pangea is the largest contractor for the Chicago Housing Authority, holding more than 1,200 units rented through the CHA Housing Choice Voucher Program. That program allegedly pays Pangea more than $1 million per month in Section 8 housing assistance payments, the complaint said.
The complaint asserts Pangea allegedly papers over problems with its properties to persuade tenants to sign a lease. However, tenants later discover units in which mold issues allegedly have been covered with paint, insect and rodent infestations allegedly are left unaddressed, and mechanical issues, such as leaking or stopped toilets, broken elevators, and malfunctioning heating systems, are allegedly left unrepaired.
The buildings are often allegedly unsecure, allegedly allowing non-residents to come and go at will.
The complaint asserts Pangea is slow to respond to tenant complaints and concerns
The complaint asserts Pangea has been cited with thousands of building code violations by the city since 2009, including such alleged violations as pest infestations, lack of heat, lack of running water and hot water, mold, leaking water, sewage issues, defective windows and doors, lead paint violations, large holes and cracks in interior walls and ceilings, and maintenance performed without permits.
However, the complaint asserts the alleged issues are allegedly underreported. They assert Pangea allegedly persuades many tenants to not report issues by allegedly threatening them with fees or eviction.
Named plaintiffs in the action include 14 Pangea tenants, identified as Belinda Lee, Willie Bradley, Stephanie Brown, Deziree Brown, Alexis Collins, Kayla Jones, Nataska Kidd, Elizabeth Miller, Jerika Nesbitt, Lashanda Rander, Jhameka Shadd, Beulah Sipp, Teaira Strother and Tommie Williams Jr.
All of the plaintiffs claim to have apartments through Pangea, for which they pay rent of around $900 per month, though the amount varied based on government housing assistance they may receive. The most expensive apartment listed in the complaint rented for $1,200 per month.
However, despite those rents, they asserted their apartments suffered from any of the various alleged issues identified in the complaint, creating “unsafe” or “deplorable” living conditions.
The complaint seeks to expand the lawsuit into a class action on behalf of potentially thousands more tenants, who rented apartments from Pangea from July 2017 to July 2022.
They are seeking unspecified money damages, potentially including punitive damages, and attorney fees, among other relief, for alleged violations of the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance and the Illinois consumer fraud law, among other alleged violations.
They are represented by attorneys Christopher Wilmes, Tex Pasley and Tory Tilton, of the firm of Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, of Chicago; Mia K. Segal and Chauntay Parrish, of the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services, of Chicago; and Michael F. Cockson, Craig S. Coleman, Elsa M. Bullard, Evelyn Snyder, Sarah E. Vandelist and Graciela Quintana, of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, of Minneapolis.