Judge denies bankruptcy protection to delinquent landlord

As public officials push his rental properties into foreclosure, a landlord with nearly $1 million in back taxes will find no sanctuary in bankruptcy court.

Judge Alan M. Koschik of the Northern District of Ohio tossed out Gary L. Thomas’s request for bankruptcy protection Monday. The landlord lives in Wadsworth but rents almost exclusively to lower-income tenants in Akron. Several of his paying tenants complain that the homes they rent are falling apart, with them inside.

Since last summer, public officials have gone after 22 companies Thomas uses to manage or hold more than 100 properties. He tried to save 27 of the properties from a sheriff’s sale in October by pushing four of his companies into bankruptcy. Together, there’s $461,374 in back taxes on those 27 properties — about a third of all properties in the tax foreclosure case.

In an initial hearing on the matter, an attorney for the U.S. Trustee Program, which manages property in bankruptcy, had asked Judge Koschik to dismiss the case because several properties lacked liability insurance, including a few with occupants. Koschik gave Thomas two weeks, but seven properties remained uninsured on Monday.

Read more: https://www.ohio.com/news/20181218/judge-denies-bankruptcy-protection-to-delinquent-landlord