City to do the ‘tighten up’

The owner of this house at 11744 Sobieski has been falsely claiming to live here and received a 100-percent Homestead tax exemption. He has also failed to register with the city as a landlord. That’s about to change.

By Charles Sercombe
An unknown weakness in Hamtramck’s landlord law was discovered last week.
Essentially, it has no power of enforcement.
Last Friday there was a WXYZ Channel 7 news report about a woman renting a flat in Hamtramck who was living with her two daughters and 5-month-old son without water service or heat.
In a follow-up inquiry by The Review it was found out that the owner of the house is not a registered landlord.
City law requires all landlords to register and have their rental units inspected on a regular basis.
But there is one omission to the law that needs to be tightened up.
“There is currently nothing on the books relating to fining a landlord for not registering their rentals,” said City Manager Katrina Powell in an e-mail.
“Due to this issue being brought to light, we are going to possibly bring something to the council later setting fines for this offense, as there are probably others that are non-compliant in the city.”
In the Channel 7 report the owner of the house, Shailesh Mohan, said he would immediately fix a broken water pipe, which had caused a major water leak that damaged the furnace supplying heat. The city was forced to turn off water service because of the leak.
However, Mohan told Channel 7 that he might not have enough money to fix the problem.
The Review questioned the city whether Mohan owed property taxes on the house and if he was claiming a Homestead tax exemption on the property, located at 11744 Sobieski.
As it turns out, Mohan, who lives in Canton, is up to date on taxes but he has been claiming a 100-percent Homestead tax exemption on the house despite not living there.
Powell said the city will follow up on the Homestead claim, but when asked why he was able to claim a 100-percent exemption for a two-family flat, she said was unable to.
“The assessor is extremely busy, as he is in the field all day trying to assess the enormous amounts of homes that were either improperly assessed or not assessed at all, and has not had a chance to answer that question. As soon as he does, I’ll send it to you,” Powell said in an e-mail on Thursday, two days after being initially asked that question.
The Review goes to press on Thursday afternoon.
Powell is now the sole spokesperson for all city departments and has instructed department heads not to talk to the media.
In a situation where a landlord lives in multi-unit dwelling, a Homestead tax exemption is given to that portion of the house where the landlord lives.
For example, a landlord who owns a two-family flat and lives in one of the units can only receive a 50-percent Homestead tax break.
A Homestead tax exemption excuses homeowners from paying school taxes. Hamtramck Public Schools levies 18 mills.
Mohan appears to have been the owner of the house at least as far back as 2007, according to the city’s online property tax records. But according to the Wayne County Treasurer’s online property tax records, two other people appear as the owner of the property.
The Review asked Powell about this discrepancy and was told via e-mail:
“Just as you can go onto Wayne County’s website to get this info, you can go on the City of Hamtramck’s as well, under the Assessor’s tab, and find out about all of your questions regarding this address and its tax bills, ownership etc.,” Powell said.
“Isn’t that much easier than trying to track down info? We have it right at your fingertips.”
The assessed value of the house has decreased over the years, starting out in 2007 being assessed at $42,000 and then $43,000 in 2008, according to the city’s online property tax records.
After that, the value steadily dropped to being assessed at $21,000 for the last two years.
In all, Mohan has saved over $4,500 during those years.
Mohan could not be reached for comment.
According to City of Warren’s Assessor’s Office, thelaw says municipalities can only go back three years in collecting tax money that should not have been exempted.