Northeast News
March 11, 2015

Dear Jessie,

Last week, the landlord who owns the large apartment near me served an eviction to their tenant. All of the tenant’s belongings were on the curb. HELP!! How can we keep slumlords from ruining our neighborhood?

Signed,

Sick of Slumlords.

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Dear Sick of Slumlords,

There are several ways to stop these slumlords. The first way, which usually proves futile, is to try to talk to them about what is bothering you. Sometimes they don’t even know that what they are doing makes them a bad neighbor, and the behavior corrects itself. That being said, I would probably just skip this step, as most landlords have a good idea of what the laws are.

In KCMO, in an eviction situation, the property owner can put the evictee’s belongings on the curb, legally, and they can sit there, legally, for twenty-four hours. After that, for the reasons you mentioned, those belongings officially become a code violation and must be disposed of properly, or the property owner can be cited, and fined, for a codes violation. My recommendation would be to call codes on the slumlord’s buildings, incessantly. Everything you see – eviction trash left over 24 hours, peeling paint, falling balconies, missing bricks, stairs in disrepair, peeling paint. Once they are cited, fined, and forced to correct these issues, they will eventually either straighten up and fly right, or run for the hills and sell those buildings to someone who cares. I know it is frustrating, but keep on it, and encourage your neighbors to do the same! It won’t be instant, but you will see an improvement, and more than likely a great one.