Problem landlord to serve 175 days in jail for failing to maintain rental properties
Bailey GallionA Columbus landlord will serve 175 days in jail for failing to maintain livable conditions at his 32 rental properties after the city found numerous violations, including rodent and roach infestations and properties lacking electricity, gas or heat.
Joseph Alaura, whom court records indicate resided on Columbus' Far North Side near Worthington but also show addresses elsewhere, was on probation for a 2018 case in which he was ordered by the court to maintain safe, sanitary living conditions for his tenants after repeatedly failing to repair a fire-damaged duplex in the Hilltop neighborhood, according to court records.
The city’s code enforcement division found significant violations at the premises during a March 2024 inspection and determined the duplex was unsafe for human habitation, the Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said in a news release Thursday.
The city filed a separate court case on April 16 stating code enforcement workers and probation officers had observed violations of 17 other properties owned by Alaura, two of which were deemed unfit for human habitation. The city called on the court to issue an injunction requiring Alaura to maintain his properties in compliance with city code and appoint a receiver to bring the properties up to code if Alaura failed to do so.
Alaura’s property at 698 Stewart Ave. was cited for 16 violations, including no electricity, gas or heat; leaking sinks and sewage lines; a roach infestation and other parts of the property in disrepair, according to the city attorney’s office. The property has been cited for 53 code violations over the past five years by the Columbus Building and Zoning Department, according to public records.
Another property at 1150 Olney Drive was cited for no heat, inoperable sinks, a rat infestation and extension cords running throughout the house.
Code enforcement also found properties with no running water, rodent infestations, broken windows and plumbing issues, according to a news release from Klein's office.
Franklin County Environmental Court Judge Stephanie Mingo agreed with the City Attorney's Property Action Team attorneys and this week sentenced Alaura to jail for 175 days. He was ordered to report to the Franklin County jail by Friday to begin serving his sentence.
This is the third time Alaura has been sentenced to jail for problems with his properties.
In 2019, Alaura was sentenced to five days in jail and fined $500 for not repairing the violations at the Hilltop duplex on Fairmont Avenue. That sentence came six years after he served 30 days in jail for not fixing code violations at his properties.
Alaura was also one of the subjects of the 2013 Dispatch series "Legacy of Neglect," focusing on problem landlords.
“Once a problem landlord is on our radar, we will stop at nothing to hold them accountable to tenants and the City,” Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said in the news release. “In this case, the defendant continues to defy court orders and subject vulnerable residents to deplorable living conditions. That kind of brazen disregard for people and the law is unacceptable and the reason why we’re taking these aggressive punitive measures.”
Garrison Carr, an attorney representing Alaura did not return a message left by The Dispatch seeking comment as of early Thursday afternoon.
Alaura has also been sued over conditions at his rental properties. For example, in 2021, The Ohio Neighborhood Preservation Society, through the Legal Aid Society of Columbus and others, sued Alaura over his property at 73-75 South Warren Ave., alleging the abandoned building was a public nuisance.
A Franklin County Municipal Court judge ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to show the property was a public nuisance. But in April 2023, a panel of judges of the 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals (Franklin County) overturned the Municipal Court decision and remanded it back to that court to address the problem.
Dispatch reporter Jim Weiker contributed to this report.