Judge halts March sale of Leland House, giving displaced tenants hope
A Detroit judge has postponed the auction of Leland House, ruling tenants must have influence in the future of the historic property.
The Leland House sitting idle as its fate hangs in legal limbo
A federal bankruptcy judge has halted the auction of Detroit’s historic Leland House, a victory for residents forced to leave the building last year.
The ruling came after attorneys with the Michigan State University Housing Justice Clinic argued residents were unlawfully excluded from bankruptcy proceedings. The judge agreed that tenant rights included participation in the property’s future.
The Leland House closed in November after a utility disconnection of unknown origin prompted the Detroit Fire Department to issue an eviction order. All tenants were forced to leave the building and barred from returning.
Following the outage, the owner sought court approval to auction the property, prompting legal action from tenants’ rights advocates.
Donovan McCarty is the director of the Housing Justice Clinic and a member of the legal team representing displaced tenants.
“The Leland house is a very unique property. It’s…a place that folks who can’t otherwise afford to live [downtown]…a place that’s right by Rosa Parks transit center…that’s important too, for people of all different socioeconomic classes,” McCarty said.
“What we’re seeing here…is [the influence of] corporate interests and what this could mean for Mayor Sheffield’s tenure,” he explains.
“Is she going to choose the residents, you know, the people of the city of Detroit, or is she going to choose these corporate interests? The Leland house sits effectively on DTE’s campus…DTE has played a prominent role in this case,” according to McCarty.
The next court date in the case will be Feb. 24.
