Do you want to know who your landlord is?
Whether you’re apartment hunting, checking if a place has a history of code violations, or just wondering who’s collecting your rent each month, it often doesn’t take more than a few clicks to find out who owns a piece of property.
At other times, however, it can be a frustrating maze of LLCs and shell companies. Reporters often hit this roadblock.
There are a few publicly available tools that can give you insight on your landlord. Here’s how to check property ownership like an investigative reporter:
Look up the address in the City of Milwaukee’s property database
The MyMilwaukeeHome website is a go-to for finding out who the owner of a residential or commercial property is in Milwaukee. This city website shows the name of the property owner, the year the property was built, code violations, sale history, and even the elected officials who oversee that location.
How do I see a property’s code violations?
One way you can learn about how well a property is maintained is by reviewing its history of code violations.
Once you find the address on the MyMilwaukeeHome website, you can click into the “Property Registration, Code Violations, and Permits” section. This link takes you to a Department of Neighborhood Services website that will show the property’s most recent code violations and work permits and whether they’ve been addressed yet.
For example, Milwaukee’s City Hall, which is owned by the City of Milwaukee, had a weed and tall grass complaint June 23. The complaint was closed without incurring fees.
What if the listed owner is an LLC?
Many landlords and real estate investors use limited liability companies, or LLCs, to protect their personal assets from lawsuits. This also makes it harder for tenants to figure out who they’re really renting from.
It’s not always possible to find out who is behind an LLC, but the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions’ corporate records database can provide clues. This database will list the LLC’s registered agent – the person or entity in charge of receiving legal documents for the LLC – and an address.
However, just because someone is listed as the registered agent doesn’t mean they’re the property owner. It could also be a front-facing employee, attorney or a generic registered agent service provider.
You can also request the company’s underlying registration paperwork from DFI. This paperwork often shows more detail about who the owners of the LLC are.
The registered agent is a dead end. What else can I try?
The Milwaukee Property Ownership Network Project is another helpful tool to learn more about landlords with multiple properties.
The website was created by John Johnson, a research fellow with Marquette University, and software developer Mitchell Henke. Their goal is to identify networks of landlord-owned homes by matching names and addresses found in property and business records.
You can search by address to see if your property is part of an “owner group” of properties that have various LLC names but are linked, likely to the same owner. The website shows the number of properties, code violations and evictions associated with that owner group.
For example, Youssef “Joe” Berrada – Milwaukee’s largest landlord – has a collection of LLCs under his belt. The Milwaukee Property Ownership Network Project has identified 849 properties and 9,773 units linked to Berrada, with 9,857 code violations and 13,504 eviction filings as of Aug. 14.
The project’s code violation data dates back to 2017 and its eviction data dates back to 2016.
Gina Castro is a Public Investigator reporter. She can be reached at gcastro@usatodayco.com.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Who owns my apartment? How to look up ownership, code violations in Milwaukee
Reporting by Gina Lee Castro, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gina Lee Castro, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
