800+ eviction hearings scheduled in Richmond; legal aid director calls climate ‘grim’

RICHMOND, Va. -- At Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, many of the cases they've had in the last few months have been evictions.

"The climate right now is grim," Marty Wegbreit, the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society's director of litigation, said. "In Richmond General District Court, there are 803 eviction hearings scheduled."

Fifteen of those involve tenants from Grace Place Apartmentsin Richmond, which is an apartment complex CBS 6 previously reported on after residents received a letter from building owners Franklin Capital Group. The letter gave residents just over a month to be out of their apartments by May 31.

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Following that, residents received another letter stating that they now had to be out by June 31. However, Wegbreit told tenants that the letter did not serve as a legal eviction notice.

"The owner sued 17 households about three weeks ago for eviction," Wegbreit said. "I went to court on Friday, Sept. 16 on behalf of 15 of those 17 households. [We] contested, and asked the court to order additional court papers."

The court agreed and set the next court date for Dec. 6.

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"The owners of Grace Place Apartments had agreements with the government to get tax breaks tax credits, and in return, they would keep the premises open for low-income people for 30 years," Wegbreit explained.

That agreement does not end until December 2031, according to Wegbreit.

"That's the bottom line. You can't break a government agreement that you benefited from and harmed the people who were supposed to get the benefit of said agreement," he said.

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Franklin Capital Group is also being sued by the City of Richmond for delinquent taxes. The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA) owns the land Grace Place apartments are located on.

"In late July, the city of Richmond filed a tax lawsuit in Richmond circuit court claiming their unpaid taxes of almost $80,000," Wegbreit said.

When asked about the delinquent taxes, RRHA officials said the agency "does not own Grace Place Apartments and has no comment on any legal action against the current owner."

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Franklin Capital Group offered this statement in response to the lawsuits:

"Because of the onerous financing and ground lease in favor of RRHA and the limited value of the property, RRHA effectively owns the building. We have offered to give (donate) title to the building to RRHA for the past two years to enable it to find a means to preserve the housing.

"Most tenants are very delinquent in rent. In addition, the building needs physical improvements for its longer term viability. We notified tenants several months ago to find new accommodations, and we have been helping them relocate, before the building shuts down. RRHA has had the opportunity to intercede and take control.

"We are not contesting the City’s actions regarding real estate taxes. The property does not have funds to pay the taxes and also assist tenants at the same time."

Wegbreit said he hopes to see a fair judgement in both cases as it impacts some of our community's most disadvantaged people.

"They appear to want to get as much money as they can from the development and provide as few services as possible. You can call that predatory if you want," he said.

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