A tenant complained about her unregistered apartment’s habitability. The court ruled that her landlord, Arsenio Lemus, can’t be held responsible for any violations made by the LLC he owns.
How absurd. The rental code clearly needs an update. As a landlord myself, I support holding unscrupulous landlords accountable. There is far too much abuse of renters in this town, and it gives we responsible landlords a bad name.
The law is an ass, as they say Let's hope the city amends its code in the light of this decision.
Perhaps there is more than one Arsenio Lemus in Laramie. But interested readers might want to do a web search using this name, and some of his companies. Go beyond the ironically named one identified in this article (Opportunity Knocks Enterprises, LLC). Pay attention to other legal cases an Arsenio Lemus has been involved in.
Appreciate you for shining light on this issue. The city should use this defeat as motivation to improve the code to prevent this from happening again.
It would be interesting to understand how the City tried and apparently failed to prove ownership of the LLC. While it is accurate to state the WY SOS shows Mr. Lemus as the registered agent for the company in question, the registered agent does not have to have any association with the business as the court ruled.
However, I believe the registered agent does have to have the ability identify and/or serve the controlling parties of the LLC e.g. if Mr. Lemus is not the owner, he must have information on the owners and be able to provide this in some form, if requested.
Wyoming LLC laws are some of the most lax in the county; there is current House Bill addressing some of weaknesses as it relates to foreign entities and other issues. I believe the Wyoming Tribune focused on this a bit last year as LLCs rose sharply in the state as shell companies for money laundering and cybercrimes.
Good, well-researched and sourced article. While Laramie has many, many good landlords who won't run afoul of the City's basic and non-onerous rental code, there are a few landlords who do and will, over and over again. Stay on this beat, Mr. Victor.
That's good! Alas, hateful people like Jeff, who believes he can profit from attacking ALL landlords, will continue to try to demonize you and other responsible landlords.
This blog post (it isn't journalism by any stretch of the imagination!) is a highly biased continuation of Jeff's hate campaign against providers of rental housing. However, even Jeff's extremely slanted account demonstrates the unreasonableness and futility of the City's onerous and likely illegal rental regulations and the incompetence of City staff to deal with rental issues. Demanding $19K in fines merely for not filling out some bureaucratic paperwork? Wasting money and staff time suing a completely wrong entity? Pursuing one landlord aggressively while discouraging dozens of others from building any more housing (which would solve any and all quality problems via competition)? Our City is going the wrong way on this entire issue. Let's repeal the ordinance, encourage the creation of more rental housing, and let market forces (which are more powerful than any court) solve whatever problems exist.
Eh, I'm a landlord and I have absolutely no issue with the tenant protections enacted by the City. There has been far too much abuse of tenants by scummy landlords. Respectable landlords who provide quality housing for the community have absolutely nothing to fear from the rental code, and as this lawsuit demonstrates, it should probably be tightened up.
Alas, Lauren, there are folks who will attempt to demonize you even though you are a good landlord. Hidden in Council's "goals" document, the result of its January retreat, is an item calling for the hiring of one or two more full time City staffers as "rental czars." Not only will this bloat City government at a time when we expect revenues to decrease due to tax cuts, but given that Council has only addressed 21 complaints in the 3 years the ordinance has been in force - that's right, only 7 per year! - one can expect that these new employees will spend their time hunting for ways to justify their jobs. In other words, making trouble for ALL landlords, including good ones. And Jeff, who has hatefully crusaded against all landlords, even good ones, will cheer them on.
I'm more concerned about solving the actual problems facing Laramie, such as widespread abuse of the wonderful students and other non-homeowners that make up our great community, than about boogeyman stories based on making up imaginary city employees and then vilifying them. How very inappropriate, especially from someone who wanted to be a public servant themselves.
Good landlords have nothing to fear from basic habitability standards, and as this ruling shows, the rental code does not go far enough. I am always very dubious about the housing provided by landlords who have problems with the rental code.
If someone has a problem with the service I provide to Laramie, that's their issue and I don't lose sleep over it. I would recommend worrying less about there possibly maybe being people who will attempt to demonize you, if you are indeed a good landlord. Who the fuck cares, bro. Following Occam's Razor, I suspect that landlords who have a problem with basic habitability standards are probably upset that their abuse of power and slumlord approach to rentals may come under scrutiny.
They're not "boogeyman stories." The "Scroogification" of good landlords like you, by Jeff and by certain members of our City Council (one of which is a landlord herself and seems to want to burden and limit her competition), is very real. So is the constant threat of overbearing big government. Even the current rental ordinance goes MUCH farther than "basic habitability standards," which are already well established by state statute and case law. It attempts to deprive you of a fundamental civil right - the right to rent property that you own - unless you pay tribute to unelected bureaucrats. And it is only the camel's nose in the tent. As I knocked on doors and talked to people while campaigning for a seat on the City Council, I encountered some extremists (thankfully, only a few) who wanted the city to impose not only mandatory inspections of all rentals (a 4th Amendment violation) but rent controls - essentially, socialized housing.
"Who the fuck cares?" If you don't fight overregulation and big government now, YOU will. And so will tenants, as they see rentals become scarce and expensive. The proper remedy for poor products and services is not overregulation but competition. Onerous regulation deters new entrants to the market who would provide competition, and burdens and harms existing providers of quality housing whom we need to keep in the market. (Many are already exiting, and it will get worse.) There's still time to turn back and do the right thing before we have a real crisis.
We understand you're hurt that folks don't want you on City Council. Fair enough. But ranting about bureaucrats and the media and imagined scenarios and the noses of dromedaries, well...it's not a good look.
Friendly advice: try to move on to something productive.
Oh, I'm just fine, thank you. I missed getting a seat on City Council by a small margin - lots of people voted for me, but my opponents had the advantage of a lot more campaign money working for them, including some big contributions from out of state. And no one got a mandate; the #1 vote getter was some guy named "Undervotes." Yes, that's right: more people didn't cast a vote than voted for any candidate. Many just didn't care, because they were transient residents; others lazily voted party line, and since Council seats are (at least nominally) nonpartisan, couldn't be bothered to investigate the candidates and didn't vote in any of the nonpartisan races. The good thing is that I have my Tuesday nights back, and am using the time in very productive ways.
One of those ways is taking a few minutes every day or two to dispel the disinformation, hate, and lies propagated by people like Jeff, whose blog is filled but nothing but pure, unmitigated hate for Laramie's hard working providers of rental housing. I also point out the growing danger of Laramie's city bureaucracy, which is strangling growth and local small businesses and increasing our cost of living. Make no mistake about it: those bureaucrats are interested only in promoting their own interests, not those of the public.
As for "the media:" Laramie has very little anymore. This blog certainly isn't worthy of being called "the media," despite its bogus claims to it. No copy editing; no third party fact checking; no editorial review; no standards of impartiality. It's just a highly slanted and biased blog. Friendly advice: don't take it as gospel or fall prey to the hate.
And finally, as for ranting: You haven't seen me rant. As a certain Marvel character famously said, "You won't like me when I'm angry."
How absurd. The rental code clearly needs an update. As a landlord myself, I support holding unscrupulous landlords accountable. There is far too much abuse of renters in this town, and it gives we responsible landlords a bad name.
An outrage that we wormed his way out of accountability - I hope the Laramie City Council can amend the code to strengthen it.
The law is an ass, as they say Let's hope the city amends its code in the light of this decision.
Perhaps there is more than one Arsenio Lemus in Laramie. But interested readers might want to do a web search using this name, and some of his companies. Go beyond the ironically named one identified in this article (Opportunity Knocks Enterprises, LLC). Pay attention to other legal cases an Arsenio Lemus has been involved in.
Appreciate you for shining light on this issue. The city should use this defeat as motivation to improve the code to prevent this from happening again.
It would be interesting to understand how the City tried and apparently failed to prove ownership of the LLC. While it is accurate to state the WY SOS shows Mr. Lemus as the registered agent for the company in question, the registered agent does not have to have any association with the business as the court ruled.
However, I believe the registered agent does have to have the ability identify and/or serve the controlling parties of the LLC e.g. if Mr. Lemus is not the owner, he must have information on the owners and be able to provide this in some form, if requested.
Wyoming LLC laws are some of the most lax in the county; there is current House Bill addressing some of weaknesses as it relates to foreign entities and other issues. I believe the Wyoming Tribune focused on this a bit last year as LLCs rose sharply in the state as shell companies for money laundering and cybercrimes.
Good, well-researched and sourced article. While Laramie has many, many good landlords who won't run afoul of the City's basic and non-onerous rental code, there are a few landlords who do and will, over and over again. Stay on this beat, Mr. Victor.
I hope this isn't a trend because any type of renter protections in Laramie are long long longggg overdue.
Landlords and what they’ve wrought in Laramie… they’ve been given a free pass. With UW enrollment shrinking they may finally feel some pain.
AS USUAL, THE WORST LANDLORDS HAVE THE BEST LAWYERS AND WAYS OUT OF BEING HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CRIMES AGAINST TENANTS.
I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A RESPONSIBLE LANDLORD AND NEVER ABUSED MY TENANTS, SOMETHING I CANNOT SAY FOR SOME OF MY TENANTS. TYPICAL.
That's good! Alas, hateful people like Jeff, who believes he can profit from attacking ALL landlords, will continue to try to demonize you and other responsible landlords.
This blog post (it isn't journalism by any stretch of the imagination!) is a highly biased continuation of Jeff's hate campaign against providers of rental housing. However, even Jeff's extremely slanted account demonstrates the unreasonableness and futility of the City's onerous and likely illegal rental regulations and the incompetence of City staff to deal with rental issues. Demanding $19K in fines merely for not filling out some bureaucratic paperwork? Wasting money and staff time suing a completely wrong entity? Pursuing one landlord aggressively while discouraging dozens of others from building any more housing (which would solve any and all quality problems via competition)? Our City is going the wrong way on this entire issue. Let's repeal the ordinance, encourage the creation of more rental housing, and let market forces (which are more powerful than any court) solve whatever problems exist.
Eh, I'm a landlord and I have absolutely no issue with the tenant protections enacted by the City. There has been far too much abuse of tenants by scummy landlords. Respectable landlords who provide quality housing for the community have absolutely nothing to fear from the rental code, and as this lawsuit demonstrates, it should probably be tightened up.
Alas, Lauren, there are folks who will attempt to demonize you even though you are a good landlord. Hidden in Council's "goals" document, the result of its January retreat, is an item calling for the hiring of one or two more full time City staffers as "rental czars." Not only will this bloat City government at a time when we expect revenues to decrease due to tax cuts, but given that Council has only addressed 21 complaints in the 3 years the ordinance has been in force - that's right, only 7 per year! - one can expect that these new employees will spend their time hunting for ways to justify their jobs. In other words, making trouble for ALL landlords, including good ones. And Jeff, who has hatefully crusaded against all landlords, even good ones, will cheer them on.
I'm more concerned about solving the actual problems facing Laramie, such as widespread abuse of the wonderful students and other non-homeowners that make up our great community, than about boogeyman stories based on making up imaginary city employees and then vilifying them. How very inappropriate, especially from someone who wanted to be a public servant themselves.
Good landlords have nothing to fear from basic habitability standards, and as this ruling shows, the rental code does not go far enough. I am always very dubious about the housing provided by landlords who have problems with the rental code.
If someone has a problem with the service I provide to Laramie, that's their issue and I don't lose sleep over it. I would recommend worrying less about there possibly maybe being people who will attempt to demonize you, if you are indeed a good landlord. Who the fuck cares, bro. Following Occam's Razor, I suspect that landlords who have a problem with basic habitability standards are probably upset that their abuse of power and slumlord approach to rentals may come under scrutiny.
They're not "boogeyman stories." The "Scroogification" of good landlords like you, by Jeff and by certain members of our City Council (one of which is a landlord herself and seems to want to burden and limit her competition), is very real. So is the constant threat of overbearing big government. Even the current rental ordinance goes MUCH farther than "basic habitability standards," which are already well established by state statute and case law. It attempts to deprive you of a fundamental civil right - the right to rent property that you own - unless you pay tribute to unelected bureaucrats. And it is only the camel's nose in the tent. As I knocked on doors and talked to people while campaigning for a seat on the City Council, I encountered some extremists (thankfully, only a few) who wanted the city to impose not only mandatory inspections of all rentals (a 4th Amendment violation) but rent controls - essentially, socialized housing.
"Who the fuck cares?" If you don't fight overregulation and big government now, YOU will. And so will tenants, as they see rentals become scarce and expensive. The proper remedy for poor products and services is not overregulation but competition. Onerous regulation deters new entrants to the market who would provide competition, and burdens and harms existing providers of quality housing whom we need to keep in the market. (Many are already exiting, and it will get worse.) There's still time to turn back and do the right thing before we have a real crisis.
Are you okay, Mr. Glass?
We understand you're hurt that folks don't want you on City Council. Fair enough. But ranting about bureaucrats and the media and imagined scenarios and the noses of dromedaries, well...it's not a good look.
Friendly advice: try to move on to something productive.
Oh, I'm just fine, thank you. I missed getting a seat on City Council by a small margin - lots of people voted for me, but my opponents had the advantage of a lot more campaign money working for them, including some big contributions from out of state. And no one got a mandate; the #1 vote getter was some guy named "Undervotes." Yes, that's right: more people didn't cast a vote than voted for any candidate. Many just didn't care, because they were transient residents; others lazily voted party line, and since Council seats are (at least nominally) nonpartisan, couldn't be bothered to investigate the candidates and didn't vote in any of the nonpartisan races. The good thing is that I have my Tuesday nights back, and am using the time in very productive ways.
One of those ways is taking a few minutes every day or two to dispel the disinformation, hate, and lies propagated by people like Jeff, whose blog is filled but nothing but pure, unmitigated hate for Laramie's hard working providers of rental housing. I also point out the growing danger of Laramie's city bureaucracy, which is strangling growth and local small businesses and increasing our cost of living. Make no mistake about it: those bureaucrats are interested only in promoting their own interests, not those of the public.
As for "the media:" Laramie has very little anymore. This blog certainly isn't worthy of being called "the media," despite its bogus claims to it. No copy editing; no third party fact checking; no editorial review; no standards of impartiality. It's just a highly slanted and biased blog. Friendly advice: don't take it as gospel or fall prey to the hate.
And finally, as for ranting: You haven't seen me rant. As a certain Marvel character famously said, "You won't like me when I'm angry."