Sewage, holes, rodents: Documents detail conditions inside embattled Janesville landlord’s properties

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - “If you put your foot right here, you can feel it go down,” explained Karl Hillman. Hillman shows WMTV 15 News the spot his wife fell through a hole in their kitchen floor.

Follow him to the basement, and make sure you have an extra pair of shoes and even a mask.

“See what we have to do? We have to go through dirty water,” said Hillman.

According to city documents, the mess is a sewage backup landlord Richard Donahue was ordered to fix months ago.

For the first time, 15 News’ cameras show what it looks like inside one of Donahue’s properties in Janesville. Donahue is the landlord that delivered notices to 119 properties ordering tenants to vacate their homes in 28 days, forcing them to find new places to live.

City documents back up what we saw: unsanitary kitchens and bathrooms, holes in the floors and walls, and sewage backups in the basement. A renter we talked with says he’s lived like this for years, with safety hazards he says were ignored by Donahue.

At the beginning of February, Donahue ordered Hillman and more than 118 other tenants to vacate their rental properties on a 28-day notice.

“We always try to learn from tragic situations, and this really is a tragic situation,” said Mitch, a UW professor who studies rental housing law and is a rental property owner, too.

Not only does he say it’s tragic so many people have to find new homes so suddenly, he says it’s a shock to learn how these people have been living.

“Lots of people have complained, the city has written him (Donahue) up a number of times, people are at risk of losing their homes, and so try to look and think what more can be done from preventing that from happening in future situations?” questioned Mitch.

15 Investigates found more than 300 complaints reported to the city about Donahue’s properties in the last five years. We also uncovered city documents that show hundreds of violations inside homes like Hillman’s that, according to the city, Donahue has yet to address.

“He owns the property. We’ve asked him several times to fix it. He did not fix it,” said Hillman.

The City of Janesville is now suing Donahue for about $27,000 in dozens of ordinance violations for things like no heat or hot water, rodent infestations, hazardous electrical systems and unsanitary interior structures. Donahue denied all the allegations in court.

Even with the city’s open cases, law expert Mitch says the city could have done more to protect renters including following up on inspections.

For example, city documents show on March 31, 2023, the city came into one of Donahue’s properties to investigate a complaint, and they ordered him to correct numerous things within 30 days. Documents show the city didn’t go back to re-inspect until the middle of July, then another five months went by until they re-inspected it for a third time, fining Donahue $100 per re-inspection. To this day, the city says Donahue has not fixed what he was ordered to fix.

“I don’t know why there was that level of delay. That really does sort of shock the conscious,” said Mitch. “The City of Janesville or another city trying to learn from this could move quicker, could increase penalties, could do more,” explained Mitch.

Janesville City Manager Kevin Lahner defends the city’s inspection process.

“Unfortunately, you get in some of these situations where you have property owners that don’t comply. We are constantly trying to follow up and issue citations and orders to correct, and it just becomes a cycle where you are constantly going after these folks. And unfortunately, they were a particularly bad actor of those issues,” explained Lahner.

Lahner says he wants to find ways to increase compliance as quickly as possible going forward.

“We have a very active code enforcement process,” said Lahner. “We have inspectors that are dedicated to residential properties. We do issue citations, we do issue orders to correct, we do follow up. It’s just that some folks choose not to comply, and forcing them into compliance is a long process, and it has to deal with the court system and things like that. And it is incredibly difficult.”

Another thing the City could have done, according to Mitch, is impose harsher fines on landlords that don’t comply with the orders to correct.

“They’re being written up, the city is aware of them. But then those results in a 100-dollar fine, a 100-dollar re-inspection fee and months of time to fix those things. It’s already within the city of Janesville’s power to fine up to 500 dollars a day. But if you look through the records, what they’ve done is fine a maximum of 500 dollars for some of these violations that have been going on for months, perhaps even years,” explained Mitch.

When asked how the City decided on the amount to sue Donahue over in court, Lahner said he’d have to do more research.

“We had a discussion about it, and we wanted to make sure those fines were issued, and I think it has something to do with following the court case and what we were allowed to fine per incident. But I don’t know off the top of my head,” said Lahner.

So what can the city do going forward? Lahner said they are looking at changing the city law to give renters more of a voice by allowing them to withhold rent if a landlord does not address an issue when they are ordered to by the city.

“I think something along those lines. If we have the authority to do it, it would be helpful. Also authorizing our folks to take a much more proactive approach in issuing more significant fines quicker,” explained Lahner.

Mitch also claims Wisconsin rental law favors rental owners over renters, another challenge.

“The law absolutely favors rental property owners over renters,” said Mitch.

The rental law expert says if a landlord wanted to evict a tenant, from start to finish, the case can move through the court system in two weeks. On the flip side if a renter sues their landlord, it could take months for a court judgement. According to court records, Donahue has filed over 360 evictions within the past decade.

15 Investigates reached out to Donahue for comment. He said he could not talk on the phone or do an on-camera interview because he was on vacation. He did say some of the property issues were caused by the tenants, that he fixed some of them, and that he did not know about others.

“After 30 years in the business I am retiring. I would [like] to thank all my customers for their past patronage and wish everyone a great future,” said Donahue via text message.

He ended the conversation by sending 15 Investigates this picture with the text “view from room.”

Donahue is due back in court in May for the dozens of court cases the city filed against him. Again, he pleaded not guilty to all of them.

Last month, Donahue reached a settlement in a federal sexual harassment case. He was ordered to pay more than $600,000 in damages and penalties to settle the lawsuit.

If you are one of the tenants in the 119 properties of Donahue’s that need to find new homes, here are some resources for you.

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