Rapid City, S.D., Code Inspectors Force Housing Repairs Story-Date: 12:33 p.m. PST Sunday , September 28, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ Rapid City, S.D., Code Inspectors Force Housing Repairs By K. Marie Porterfield, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News RAPID CITY, S.D.--Sep. 29--Three years ago, a year after Benjamin and Henrietta Skinner moved into their apartment at 121 St. Joseph Street, the basement began caving in. Last month Rapid City building inspection officials responded to their call for help by insisting the landlord, Fred Richey, make the necessary repairs within fifteen days. Even before the report was final, he sent a letter to the Skinners giving them 30 days to vacate their apartment. "I know he's doing this because we complained to the city," Ms. Skinner said. "There is a gas water heater down there and we have been scared that either the house would collapse or the dirt would push the heater away from the gas pipe and we'd blow up," Ms. Skinner said. Although the couple has repeatedly complained to Mr. Richey about the collapsing cellar, until last year he did nothing. Finally he erected a makeshift wooden retaining wall. Soon after it was finished, it began tilting, pushed by dirt from the gradual cave-in. By the time the Skinners called Indian Country Today, they said they were at wit's end. "We work hard," Mr. Skinner said. "We pay rent. We shouldn't have to live in this situation." "We complained at least 20 times and he won't do anything," he said. "I don't want to move," Ms. Skinner said, looking around her cozy living room and kitchen. "We don't want to live with the danger, either." When a reporter arrived to take pictures of the problem basement, the landlord, who was working outside the rental house that has been converted into apartments, denied that anyone named Henrietta lived in the building. Mr. Richey, an assistant principal at Rapid City Central High School until taking early retirement last year, owns 17 rental properties in Rapid City that have deeds registered to Richey Rentals. Three additional properties registered to Fredrick, or Fred Richey are on Rapid City tax rolls. He refused to respond to calls from the paper, but Ms. Spencer, who coordinates inspections of substandard housing units for Rapid City, responded immediately to the Skinner's plea that something be done about the basement by calling for inspections. >From January to the end of July of this year, her office wrote 1,273 letters to property owners detailing code violations. "About 15 percent of them are for substandard housing," Ms. Spencer said. "Complaints have gone up since Indian Country Today ran a story about substandard housing in June." She said the increase pleased her. "On the average 80 percent of the property owners take care of fixing what is wrong on their own," she said. When Mr. Richey got wind of city involvement, he called the Skinners and told them they could no longer live there. "He said we'd need to move out and that he wished us the best," Ms. Skinner said. "He told us we'd be getting a letter from him," she said. "We hadn't completed the inspections or sent him a notice," said Ms. Spencer when she was asked about Mr. Richey's insistence that the tenants leave. City inspectors found that the water heater and furnace did not have enough combustion air and the water heater was in a hazardous position due to the collapsing basement wall. The collapsing foundation had moved a floor joist. "Usually we would give the owner of a substandard building 30 days to repair the problem, but because the situation was so dangerous, he has 15 days to make the repairs to the basement and only 7 days to appeal the inspection," Ms. Spencer said. He will have 30 days to complete the other repairs. In the letter to Mr. Richey, she wrote: "During the required repairs, residents of apartment 6 do not have to vacate the premises." Only the basement must remain vacant. Ms. Spencer said that if the Skinners needed to find another place to stay for the two or three days it will take to repair the basement wall, that the landlord must foot the bill for temporary lodging. "If Mr. Richey does not make the repairs, we will bid them out, have them done and bill him for them," she said. Mr. Richey would not return calls, but the Skinners received a letter from him giving them 30 days notice to vacate their apartment so that he could begin repairs on October 1, well past the city imposed deadline. "He said we'd been good tenants and that he would give us a reference, but I know he is making us leave to get back at us for complaining," Ms. Skinner said. "He just moved another tenant into a basement apartment next to where the wall is falling down. According to South Dakota landlord/tenant law, landlords must keep rental units in reasonable repair and fit for humans to live in. Tenants cannot be evicted for complaining to a government agency about building code violations. The couple moved despite the protection the law provides, and are staying in a motel while they look for another apartment. "We've had to deal with him four years," Ms. Skinner said. "Probably he will just raise our rent for this if we stay." ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------