Holding Landlords Accountable

Demonstrates the importance of the legal victory of the tenants of R. William Connolly, Jr., on 2 Feb 1994 in US Bankruptcy Court. With the help of the Community Law Center, the tenants persuaded Federal Judge James Schneider to approve a plan to appoint a third-party property administrator to make repairs at Connolly's dilapidated rental properties in Baltimore, MD. With the health & welfare of many tenants at stake, the tenants had to find an effective way to solve the problems that Connolly had created through years of neglect. They chose a strategy that would expose none of the individual clients to scrutiny, but would meet their common need for better conditions by establishing a repair fund comprised of 40% of all monthly rents, or about $35,000. 4 Illustrations. M. Maguire