Tenants say new property manager Cortland hasn’t improved conditions, and believe they’re subject to the same conditions that just won former residents $13.5 million.

Residents at Mint Urban Infinity apartments have sued the property owners months after a $13.5 million judgement in favor of tenants who lived at the complex from October 2018 to June 2022.

The new lawsuit argues that when Cortland brought the Denver property in 2022, the large-scale property management company was aware of Mint Urban’s many issues under its former owner, Cardinal Group, but hasn’t done much to improve conditions. As a result, tenants who have lived there since after June 2022 believe they deserve compensation, too.

Bretney Steinberger and Theresa Ray filed the class action lawsuit on June 25 in Denver District Court, alleging Cortland has breached the state Warranty of Habitability and failed to meet contractual obligations. The lawsuit asks for damages to be awarded by a jury trial. The tenants are represented by DeGolia Law, which represented tenants in the previous Mint Urban lawsuit.

Both Steinberger and Ray have lived at the 1251 South Bellaire Street property since 2022. As was the case in the previous lawsuit, plaintiffs say they have struggled with broken air conditioning, elevators in disrepair, pest infestations, an unsecured building and a general lack of maintenance.

According to Steinberger, while Cortland has improved the exterior look of the property, the actual units are worse than ever. When she first heard Cortland was taking over she was excited, but now she feels trapped.

“You step inside of one of these buildings, especially building eight where I’m a resident, and it’s absolutely atrocious,” Steinberger tells Westword. “They’ve painted the walls and threw new carpet down, but it’s literally just as bad as it was when the Cardinal Group had it. There’s stains, there’s mold, there’s musk, there’s spills, there’s dog feces, there’s drugs and needles and paraphernalia and homeless. It’s just terrible.”

Cortland owns and manages thirteen buildings in the Denver area. Residents at several of its other properties say they’ve faced lackluster attitudes to maintenance, year-over-year rent increases and poor security, although none have sued. Cortland also recently settled with Colorado Attorney General Phil Wesier for using RealPage, a rent-setting software that has been linked to rent increases much higher than market value.

RealPage software is not part of the Mint Urban lawsuit, but tenants still claim they aren’t getting their money’s worth on rent.

“Mint Urban Infinity is currently advertised as ‘the best of Glendale living’ and boasts ‘[u]pscale comforts’ that would make tenants ‘proud’ to call any of its units home,” the lawsuit says. “The reality for tenants at MUI is that these promises could not be further from the truth.”

The lawsuit asks for class certification as Cortland has used a form lease for every tenant; their attorneys also argue that conditions across most of the eleven buildings at the property are all in breach of Colorado’s laws regarding rental properties even if some are worse than others.

“Defendants have continuously failed to maintain air conditioning equipment in working order,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants have now owned and managed the Property for nearly three years, yet they have failed to make long-needed repairs to the air conditioning equipment at the Property.”

No Air Conditioning and “Dangerous” Elevators

According to the lawsuit, Cortland allegedly failed to turn on air conditioning equipment this month despite temperatures nearly reaching 100 degrees in Denver, resulting in indoor temperatures between 80 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit in several units.

The elevators are also largely in disrepair, with only five of the seventeen elevators currently operational and properly licensed, leaving four buildings completely without elevators, according to the lawsuit.

“When the elevators do run, they are dangerous; residents are frequently trapped inside of the elevators when they malfunction, or the elevators ‘drop’ between floors, causing residents extreme fear and panic,” the lawsuit notes.

Residents also deal with needles and feces due to a lack of security and unsecured exterior doors, according to Steinberger and Ray’s lawsuit, which also accuses poorly maintained laundry facilities of producing smoke and causing fires floods in common areas of Mint Urban buildings.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Cortland persistently ignores maintenance requests or closes them out without addressing the problem at all.

Steinberger, who lives on the fourth floor of the complex with her children and husband, has experienced lack of air conditioning intermittently for nearly three years. After she gave birth to one of her children, the elevators were broken. The lawsuit says she was effectively trapped in her apartment while recovering from childbirth as she didn’t have the stamina to take the stairs for anything other than doctor’s appointments.

“This place is dangerous,” Steinberger says.

Cortland did not immediately return a request for comment.

Read the full article on: Westword.com | By Catie Cheshire | Image by: Westword