Thomas Breen photo
LCI's Brennan: "We will not be trying to enforce the judgment against the former owner."
LCI plans to walk back a $2,000 fine it filed against the wrong landlord — as it moves ahead with converting $21,700 in other court-approved civil judgments into property liens.
That’s the latest with the Livable City Initiative’s (LCI) stepped-up efforts to hold landlords accountable for violating the city’s residential rental licensing program and anti-blight and housing codes.
On Feb. 25, a state court clerk signed off on four different civil-judgment requests filed by LCI against four different landlords. Those court filings pertain to unpaid fines approved over the past several months by volunteer municipal hearing officers.
In the recent court orders, the clerk approved civil judgments for LCI’s bids to collect $18,200 from Jianchao Xu’s 56 – 58 Avon St LLP for 516 Elm St., $2,000 from Amit Lakhotia’s Terrace St LLC for 70 Terrace St., $1,500 from Jack Lam for 95 Nicoll St., and $2,000 from Levi Hecht’s 55 Trumbull St LLC for 55 Trumbull St.
LCI Executive Director Liam Brennan said that his agency now plans to convert three of those four civil judgments into liens that will be placed on the respective properties.
His agency plans to withdraw, however, the fourth case, against 55 Trumbull St LLC, because that company no longer owns the four-unit apartment house at 55 Trumbull St.
City land records show that Hecht’s now-defunct LLC lost the rental property to foreclosure in 2021. The company that has owned it for the past four years is 55 Trumbull Holdings LLC, which is controlled by Stamford’s Avraham Lipsker.
LCI initially fined Hecht’s company because the city assessor’s database listed 55 Trumbull St LLC as the owner of 55 Trumbull St. as recently as early February of this year. LCI relied on that listing when it was figuring out who to fine for not registering that property with the city’s residential rental licensing program.
“When we initially issued the assessment, Vision Appraisal still showed [55] Trumbull St. LLC as the owner,” Brennan said via email. “However, the records have now been updated and clearly show 55 Trumbull Holdings LLC as the current owner.
“We will proceed with withdrawing the case. We will not be trying to enforce the judgment against the former owner; instead we will seek to have the new owner register for a residential license, ideally without citation.”