A landlord who rents low-income housing is complaining of unfair or inconsistent treatment by Wright City’s contracted building inspectors. City officials didn’t have much to say in reply, because the landlord, Ernie Swan,  is currently involved in court cases regarding property violations.

Swan, of Troy, spoke at Wright City’s Dec. 10 board of aldermen meeting, saying properties that passed inspection in March this year later failed inspection when new tenants tried to move in a few months later. The properties were inspected by Wright City’s contracted service, Robert Barclay Enterprises.

Swan said inspectors told him smoke detectors that have been there for years need to be moved or replaced, and that new hand rails need to be installed at the door. He did the work, and then allegedly was told the new installations didn’t meet other requirements that he wasn’t aware of.

“The issue is how things change from March to five months later,” Swan said. “Somebody was waiting to move in there ... at this point I just gave them their money back.”

Swan complained that he feels inspection criteria haven’t been transparent, and that inspectors haven’t treated him with the decorum due a customers who has paid to get the inspections done.

Swan said he is considering selling his properties because of the ongoing issues.

Mayor Dan Rowden asked Swan to provide a specific list of complaints against the city’s inspectors, and that the complaints would be examined and addressed.

City Administrator Jim Schuchmann said a primary issue with the recent failed inspections is that smoke detectors in Swan’s living units aren’t interconnected so that they all alarm at the same time. That’s required by city code.

Additional electrical safety issues were detected on the most recent inspection, Schuchmann added.

Schuchmann told The Record he couldn’t comment further about the situation with Swan because the landlord is involved in ongoing municipal court cases related to his properties.

A search of court records show Swan has five active cases related to ordinance violations from 2019. 

Wright City requires all living units to receive a health and safety inspection before new occupants move in. In October 2019, an inspector from Barclay Enterprises came to inspect one of Swan’s units at 401 Veterans Memorial Parkway, according to court documents. The inspector learned that tenants had been living in the unit since March 2019 without an occupancy permit.

While investigating the situation, city officials discovered that three other living units on the property also had tenants that Swan had not acquired occupancy permits for.

Charges were filed in Wright City Municipal Court between October and December 2019, but were not resolved before all court hearings were put on hold due to COVID-19.