A Stewart Street fire under investigation by local and state authorities has brought to light a messy eviction of five of the home’s previous tenants, as well as a bitter battle between the property’s landlord and the bank controlling the mortgage.
But there’s still no information from law enforcement linking the eviction to the fire, though the State Fire Marshal’s office said new developments would be announced within days.
Five previous tenants of 68 Stewart St., which caught blaze Sunday in a fire that caused a reported $225,000 in damages, were formally evicted Jan. 27, nearly one month before the fire.
Ohio University students Brian Finsterbusch and Phil Morehead were tenants in the house at the start of Fall Semester with three other men. Morehead is a former Post columnist.
MONEY OWED,
BUT FEW PEOPLE TO PAY IT
By early December 2013, Morehead said the other roommates — Kevin James, Nate Harland and Troy Keener — had left the lease for various reasons. That left Finsterbusch and Morehead owing a substantial amount of money.
“So me and Brian were stuck in the house as the last people paying because the other people just up and left, and we had a lease but we couldn’t afford to pay it for everyone else,” Morehead said. “I think the rent was due Nov. 23 and we had an eviction notice on our door on Dec. 4.”
He added that there was confusion over who should receive rent payments.
COURTS GET INVOLVED
The owner of the property, Pam Hines of Hines Rentals, was facing foreclosure on the house and other properties she mortgaged through Century National Bank. The court-appointed receiver in the foreclosure, Pete Lahni of the Cincinnati-based Lahni Consulting LLC, had taken over operations at 68 Stewart St., according to court documents.
Lahni, appointed by Athens County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Ward in July, was placed in control of all earnings, rents, issues, deposits, income and profits.
Morehead and Finsterbusch claim in affidavits that they had a verbal agreement with Lahni and Hines to remain on their lease and continue to make payments while Lahni would pursue rent from the other three.
Hines confirmed this verbal agreement in an interview with The Post, but said the court would not acknowledge its legitimacy.
Lahni declined to comment for this story beyond what was in court documents.
Brittany Stubbs, marketing manager at Century National Bank, declined to comment on why the bank decided to take action against Hines due to ongoing legal action.
LAHNI HIRES LOCAL REALTOR
Lahni hired Bryan Wharton of University Off-Campus Housing to maintain 68 Stewart St.
Wharton wrote in an email to Finsterbusch made available in court documents that he and Morehead could either sign a new lease — which would have required them to pay $1,200 within one week of signing as well as find at least one additional roommate — or be evicted.
Wharton told The Post he has rarely had to deal with evictions in the past.
“Things tend to work themselves out and I try to work with people,” Wharton said. He declined to offer any further comment.
STUDENTS EVICTED
Affidavits filed separately by Morehead and Finsterbusch from the January court case claim Lahni forged lease documents he had provided to the court, and that both Wharton and Lahni threatened to throw their possessions out over Winter Break. Finsterbusch also said he was hospitalized for an injury he sustained due to repairs not being made on a staircase.
Finsterbusch declined to comment in this story.
In the end, the students were evicted and although Hines said there will be an appeal in March, Morehead said it was better to cut his losses. Hines said she helped set up Morehead and Finsterbusch with a home at South Shafer Street for the remainder of the year.
“Having an eviction on my record will make it tough to rent anywhere,” Morehead said, adding he was astonished when he heard about Sunday morning’s fire.
Andy Vogt, the owner of Athens Insurance Services and the man in line to purchase Hines’ eight properties, said the home was in bad shape and Hines was not properly taking care of her rentals.
Vogt said he won the bid to purchase the foreclosed homes in September and is under contract to buy the properties once the court proceedings are complete.
He credits Lahni with recently getting the house up to code.
“The place was just nasty,” Vogt said, pointing to toilet problems, broken kitchen counters and overall “disgusting” conditions.
Evictions involving students are few and far between, he said. This case was a rare exception.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Morehead said he was interviewed by state investigators following the fire. He said they were “suspicious at first” that his car was left at the house.
“Then I told them, if I were to do that, why would I leave my car parked right next to it? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Morehead said he left his car in the 68 Stewart St. driveway that night, as he typically does on weekends.
Michael Duchesne, public information officer from the State Fire Marshal’s office, said there is no update on the ongoing investigation, although he said details should be released within days. Law enforcement has not suggested foul play was involved stemming from the eviction.
But Vogt said two parties could have benefited from the house fire: Hines, who could have benefited through the bank’s forced place policy, and himself.
“The place those kids were kicked out of was such a dump, I was likely going to have to spend $25,000 in getting that place up to snuff,” Vogt said. “I was pretty much forgoing renting it for the 2014-2015 school year because it was that bad.”
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