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Apr 27 • 42 tweets • 16 min read Twitter logo

Legacy Property Management and Johnson Creek Village

On 4/20/2023 Phillip Western and I were thrown out of our home in 72 hours because we refused to commit fraud for Legacy Property Management and the owners of Johnson Creek Village.

We received no notice, Phill had never received a written warning for work, they refused to tell us why we were thrown aside. We asked if we could continue living in our home if we paid rent, and they refused with a laugh. It was a retaliatory firing and eviction.

We moved into a quaint old building called "The Albert" in November of 2021. Vintage and cute we had a lot of hope for the future, our move in costs paid by DV grants. Despite being advertised as having heat, the day we went to sign the move in papers,

we were told there was no heat yet, but that would be remedied in the week. Now, given that we had already given a move out date where we were living previously, we could not wait but figured we could get by on the space heater they provided us. A couple days after move in,

all the drains in the apartment were clogged, save the bathroom sink. That prevented us from being able to bathe or cook, as we had no means of doing our dishes. We called and reported it and it took several days for maintenance to respond, and this was a poor omen.

A week passed, still no heat. As time went on, not only did the heat never get installed, but water started dripping from the light fixture in the kitchen. Despite multiple maintenance workers coming out and multiple calls made, the problem persisted.

It eventually came to the point that they had to cut out the majority of the kitchen wall and explore the above unit; our kitchen was inoperable, covered with plastic wrap. In the course of cutting the wall open, it was revealed there was a colony of water ants…

… lurking behind the plaster, no doubt attracted by the warmth and water leak.

Due to a disaster every other day that resulted in having no access to hygiene, and the complications were compounding and not getting better, we reached out to the CEO of the company, Abraham Walsh.

Phill and I had tried going through the mainline but the front desk receptionists played gatekeeper. We found that on the phone tree there was no speaking to Abe unless you pressed the button offering to do business with Legacy, otherwise there was no Abe to be found.

Abe was very conciliatory and seemed mortified; he claimed to have no knowledge of any of these issues and offered to put us up at a hotel until the unit was made “habitable” again. Abe asked about Phill’s property management background and if they were willing to live on site,

he had a property we could manage with our lease transferred. Phill’s meager salary would cover the majority of the rent, and we said yes.

Phill started working as the on-site manager at Johnson Creek Village Apartments on January 2nd, 2023.

While warned about the uphill battle that would be faced, the problems were readily apparent: trash overflowing around the dumpster, rats everywhere, debris everywhere...even the on-site office was full of excess building scraps and broken glass.

Phill and I met with new neighbors and took work orders, placing them with Legacy. The laundry room had been in disarray since our first day, and it was reported on; only half washers worked and only 2 of the 3 dryers, for a complex of 32. The floor was peeling.

Despite many of the residents having been complaining about the state of it for the better part of a year, nothing was done to fix the problem. Phill promptly notified Legacy of the condition and the need of repairs. Nothing.

Another issue was a problem tenant in "unit A". He routinely would walk around in the elements barefoot, screaming at residents, sexually accosting women in the laundry room, attacking people's doors, and exposed himself to a child.

Phill tried all resources available before eviction, as he specializes in helping people get housing or other forms of assistance, but endangering neighbors was the final straw.

While not an owner at Legacy, a major power player is Nick Sausville. While not a realtor or attorney, he is the head of "legal" at Legacy. When Phill called him about what to do (the case manager's hands were tied, cops didn't do anything, etc.)

Nick told Phill to "Next time he (Unit A) starts screaming, tell the cops he has a gun or a weapon." which, given how the cops would be apt to respond to such a call, could result in either the injury or death to a very mentally ill man.

Phill refused to lie to the police in a way that would unfairly endanger someone. Nick is incredibly disliked by the residents. He only comes to the property to post notices, oversee evictions, and often is seen openly carrying his gun as a means of intimidating those around him.

Nick has also been spotted going around the back of tenant’s homes, with his hand on his firearm.

Dan True is the CFO of Legacy & a 1/3 part owner. It was Dan that eventually helped Phill set up a working office, get necessary tools & supplies, & promised additional materials to help with maintaining the property. The materials never arrived, even a month after being promised

After being there for the course of a month, in addition to the previous problems listed, it became apparent that there were also health and safety concerns. One such was a roof that had been leaking for many months and poorly patched multiple times.

It was leaking directly into a resident’s unit, and when he spoke to Abe face to face about the issue Abe simply responded, “It’s normal”. Phill had spoken with several of the contractors asked to come out and look at the roof and not only did they say there was indeed a hole,

but there was mold in the attic. This would explain the overall smell of the unit in question, in which a man kept it perfectly immaculate, but as soon as the door opened you’d be hit by a wall of stench. Due to Legacy’s negligence, the cost of repairs was quoted at over $30,000.

Despite multiple inspections and quotes, no repairs were ever performed. Phill and I and several other residents in the building have noticed that our breathing improves the more time we spend outside of the building, and it’s worse in the mornings.

The steps are literally crumbling. After snow or heavy rain, entire pieces are crumbling away showing exposed rebar.

There were mornings where Phill could take a gloved hand and poke a hole into the side of a step. There was one instance where a single mother of three was walking her kids down her stairs, and it crumbled under her four year-olds’ foot, causing her to injure her lip.

Another, and perhaps the most frightening was the fact that there was an entire load bearing sport column for a two story staircase left broken and then in the mud, for well over a month. Other than the wall to which it was affixed…

… there was only one beam supporting it that entire time. The residents who lived above were actively concerned for their safety, as were we for theirs.

We had an entire building with a broken sewer pipe in the crawl space, actively pumping out water.

Getting it fixed was like pulling teeth, whether it be from poor planning (having contactors show up but Legacy didn’t provide the keys so no repairs could be accomplished), inconveniencing the residents, etc.

Despite constant tenant, case manager, housing, legal, & complaints from their own onsite employee Legacy refused to make any repairs to Johnson Creek Village, so on 3/22/23 the City of Portland threatened to put a lien on the property if they didn’t fix “critical violations”…

… within 30 days. That was in January. The violation states, “if your property or any part of your property becomes vacant, it cannot be occupied until the violations are corrected.”

On 4/20/2023, Nick Sausville abruptly came to our door on an approved sick day for Phill. Phill came back two minutes later with his laptop, pale and flabbergasted, “I just got fired.” They came prepared with new keys to every old door, and fliers for all resident doors…

telling them Phill and I were leaving immediately. Nick refused to give Phill a reason for his firing, and when we called Abe he simply texted back, “Nope”. Phill and I asked if we could pay rent and stay with our neighbors, that was forbidden, again no reason was given.

We couldn’t stay in the complex. Phill was finally able to get ahold of Dan later that day; he had no idea what was going on. He had been on vacation and no one at Legacy had told him what had happened.

Abraham Walsh has already moved to Texas and wants his hands clean of Legacy Property Management. On the day we vacated the property, the now infamous missing pole was replaced but the maintenance crew used the same moldy wooden pole and was coached not to speak to Phill.

They had three move-in appointments that were entirely illegal. Today (for some reason we’re still on the Legacy employment chat) Legacy Property Management is attempting to fraudulently move low income people into uninhabitable apartments.