Six stories of landlords abused by Minneapolis city government

This collection of stories illustrates how big city governments steal property from their rightful owners. There are a thousand and one ways that city bureaucrats do this; and here are six of them. These maneuvers generally take place beneath the radar of media scrutiny. It must have happened to a person himself or to a close relative or friend for anyone to become seriously upset about the thefts when cadres of neighborhood-association or block-club members cheer on the city inspectors and police. In this book, you will see how (1) city inspectors condemned a building as being unoccupied when a tenant was temporarily in the hospital, (2) tax officials refused an owner’s payment of taxes and then declared his property fax-forfeited, (3) a faith-based housing non-profit pressured an apartment owner into giving them the property and, when he refused, had the county attorney declare the building a “nuisance property” with all the penalties that implies, (4) a city inspector condemned a house when the tenant removed a trap beneath the kitchen sink and then would not lift the condemnation because the house lacked a full basement, (5) a conniving tenant refused to let the landlord repair damage that she herself had caused and then was awarded a half-million dollars in damages because he had allegedly used the “n-word” in discussions with her, and (6) city inspectors condemned an apartment building at the urging of a neighborhood association in a manner designed to run him out of money and be forced to sell at a deep discount.