MIAMI – A Miami-Dade County judge issued an order in favor of the city of Miami in a lawsuit involving a property owner, now known by some Miami residents as "Slumlord Millionaire."
Miami-Dade County Judge Barbara Areces said Thursday that the city could move forward with taking back control of nine residential properties including, 6040 NW 12 Ave., at Miami's Liberty City neighborhood.
Areces ordered that attorney Linda Leali be appointed as the receiver, who will handle the buildings, while placing restrictions on the property owner's control.
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The order comes as the city and several tenants have pending lawsuit against the owner of the nine properties, and corporations linked to Denise Vaknin, of New Jersey. She became known as "Slumlord Millionaire" among her Liberty City tenants, because while they were suffering with deplorable living conditions she chose to live in a mansion.
New Jersey property records list Vaknin, 60, as the owner of a home valued at least $2.65 million. She was also listed as having worked for the Solomon Schechter Day School, a Hebrew Academy in New Jersey where a Moshe Vaknin was listed as the principal.
City officials said the properties' owners owe at least $2.4 million in fines related to different types of safety violations. Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado said the Florida legislature limits the power of city officials to deal with irresponsible landlords without hurting the tenants.
"The owners cannot be told, 'oh, you have 120 days to fix this,' because they won't," Regalado said earlier this week. "They just don't care. They are milking the cow. And that's a shame."
Miami Commissioner Keon Hardemon said earlier this week the issue at the property in Liberty City is one of many examples of Miami's current affordable housing crisis. Hardemon said the government needs to provide housing and advocate for raising wages.
"There are people that live there that are paying rent and that are being mistreated. And so what we want to do is everything that we can do to put them in a better situation," Hardemon said.
Attorney Keith Silverstein said he started to represent Vaknin's companies earlier this week. He said the tenants of the nine buildings have not been paying rent. He asked the judge for more time and added that the property owners want to fix the problem.
"It's too little, too late," Areces said Thursday.
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Assistant city attorney Rachel S. Glorioso Dooley is handling the case. She handles code enforcement matters and other quality of life issues for the city.
This isn't the first time Silverstein's client faces the outrage of government officials. At Crestmont Village in Houston, Texas, the tenants of a residential complex linked to Vaknin had to be relocated. They also owed thousands of dollars in fines and nearly a million dollars in water bills.
Silverstein said the problem his clients are facing is a lack of funds.
"There is a serious cash crisis for these properties and it takes money to fix these conditions," Silverstein said. "And to the extent that additional capital has been raised, that money, it was hoped would be used to fix the conditions."
Follow Investigative Reporter Christina Vazquez on Twitter @CallChristinaTV
Local10.com reporter Andrea Torres contributed to this story.