Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a lawsuit against a Pulaski County landlord with a history of renting out subpar apartments Monday.
The state filed the suit in the Pulaski County Circuit Court against Entropy Systems, Inc, and its CEO Imran Bohra. He owns about 150 rental properties in the county, which he rents out under his own name and his company’s.
The suit claims that Bohra was “knowingly renting properties that have code violations affecting the health and safety of a resident prior to clearing the code violation with the proper authority,” a violation of local housing codes and the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Calls to Bohra requesting comment were not immediately returned.
“This lawsuit was necessary to combat Bohra’s brazen disregard for the health and safety of his tenants,” said Attorney General Rutledge in a news release sent Monday afternoon. “It is unacceptable that Bohra refuses to address numerous housing code violations, yet he is still determined to lease homes with serious structural and safety issues to Arkansans, who simply want affordable and safe housing.”
An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette investigation into Bohra’s business practices, published in January, is referenced in the lawsuit.
The investigation used court records, city documents and interviews with former and current residents to show that Bohra has a habit of renting out homes with code violations, often to renters with lower incomes.
The story showed that in January, Bohra’s properties had been cited at least 170 times by code enforcement officers in Little Rock and North Little Rock since the start of 2016.
Rutledge’s lawsuit references a handful of anonymous tenants who rented homes with floors that needed repair, windows that weren’t “weather tight,” and no heat, among other issues.
The filing seeks an injunction, an order imposing civil penalties, restitution for renters, the suspension or forfeiture of franchises, corporate charters, licenses, permits and authorizations to do business in Arkansas.
Read Tuesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.