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Court calls for heating repairs, but not for enforcing Sunrise Court leases

MARSHALL — A Lyon County District Court judge issued a ruling Wednesday on petitions from residents at the Sunrise Court apartment complex. But while the judge ordered the new managers of the property to repair its boiler systems, the ruling didn’t say anything about upholding the tenants’ leases.

“We are very disappointed,” Peter Omari, a supervising attorney with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, said Thursday. The concern was that the petitioning tenants from Sunrise Court all have leases, but they weren’t being upheld. As of Thursday, Omari said, “We are exploring our options.”

Sunrise Court tenants Jessica Thovson, Olawale Alabi, and Austin Payne and Shamar Brown were all seeking emergency relief under the Tenant Remedies Act. Their petitions asked the court to order the building owner or manager to fix the heat at Sunrise Court.

In September, ownership of the Sunrise Court apartment complex changed to Suite Liv’n, a business with extended-stay and rental properties in the Willmar area. Current residents of Sunrise Court received letters saying the heating systems in the apartment buildings needed to be replaced, and tenants had a month to find somewhere else to live.

On Monday, tenants testified in court about the lack of heat in their apartments, as well as the fact that their leases went past October. An HVAC contractor also testified about the condition of the boilers at Sunrise Court, saying the boilers had bypassed safety systems and an exhaust system that was dangerously undersized.

Electronic court records said District Court Judge Tricia Zimmer issued a judgement in the case on Wednesday. The ruling found that an emergency did exist for the petitioners, but the heating systems couldn’t be repaired before cold weather arrives.

The ruling ordered several things. First, the petitioners were granted a rent abatement. The owners or managers of Sunrise Court will need to reimburse the petitioners’ rent paid between Sept. 19 and October. They will also need to submit proof of the reimbursement to the court by Nov. 15 at the latest, court documents said.

The ruling also said the owners or managers will need to offer the petitioners an opportunity to lease apartments, in accordance with Suite Liv’n’s Sept. 20 letter.

The letter Sunrise Court tenants got on Sept. 20 said they were invited to re-apply for an open apartment in the spring, after heating work was done.

The judge’s ruling also ordered the new owners of Sunrise Court to make “concerted efforts without further delay” to complete heating repairs at the apartment complex within the next six months.

The disappointing thing about the ruling, tenant advocates said Thursday, was that it didn’t talk about upholding residents’ leases. The original letters tenants received said they needed to vacate the building by today. However, court documents filed by attorneys for Suite Liv’n managers Jeff Huston and Gabe Olson said the deadline was later extended to Oct. 31.

Josh Prine, one of the Sunrise Court residents working to try and organize tenants, said petitioners hadn’t received a copy of the judge’s order yet. However, he had been in contact with Omari to talk about the ruling.

Prine said it was his understanding that Sunrise Court residents should stay put. He said he hasn’t seen or heard of any attempts to get tenants out of the building so far.

The situation with Sunrise Court tenants and Suite Liv’n impacts more than just the four petitioners, Prine said.

“We’re trying to educate everybody,” but not all tenants understand what’s going on, he said.

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