Candidate’s residency takes a new turn

By Charles Sercombe

City Council candidate Abu Mahfuz claims he lives in Hamtramck.

But it appears the address he originally claimed he lived at is an empty attic.

This week, we received an email from Mohammad Nazrul Islam, who lives at 2424 Neibel, which is the address that Mahfuz has told the city is his official residence.

We had recently visited the two-family house and noticed that the lower flat appeared to be empty, and that a woman living in the upper flat said no one was living there. As it turns out, the woman is married to Islam. Islam said his wife does not speak English.

Islam further said that Mahfuz lives in the third upper unit.

The Review did some research on the house. We called the Department of Public Services and asked who owns the house and whether it was registered as a rental dwelling since it appears renters live there.

We learned that Mohammad Kamruzzaman owns the house, but he had failed to register it as a rental dwelling. As for the upper third unit, it is an attic, and it’s against the law to reside in an attic.

On Wednesday, a city inspector and the fire marshal visited the house. Vince Peruchietti, a rental home inspector, said he closed down the third floor unit at the house and demanded that the owner register with the city as a landlord.

The attic unit, Peruchietti said, had been converted into a room, but he saw no signs of anyone living there.

There is a new ripple in the Mahfuz residency question. On July 1, he changed his address with the Secretary of State Office, and he now says he lives at 11450 Moran.

Stay tuned, folks.