The Burlington Code Enforcement department has been in an ongoing dispute with landlord Soon Kwon over housing violations in his properties. Inspectors found over 20 violations including water leaks, mold, and faulty fire escapes at Kwon's building on Colchester Ave, but Kwon has failed to address any of the issues despite multiple inspections. Tenants have complained about the unaddressed problems, and some withheld rent last year. Code Enforcement says Kwon is one of the city's worst landlords and is taking legal action to force repairs, while Kwon claims inspectors are targeting him unfairly.

1. 4/28/16, 2:47 PMCode Enforcement spars with BTV landlord
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Code Enforcement spars with BTV landlord
Zach Despart, Free Press Staff Writer 7:44 a.m. EDT August 21, 2015
By August, the tenants of 40B Colchester Ave. in Burlington had set up bowls to catch water dripping through
their ceiling.
"There's a new one that's dripping above the fridge," resident Zack Craig said earlier this week. "We've put a
cake tin under it."
City housing inspectors in July identified 24 housing violations in the building, including unsafe fire escapes,
water leaks, mold and faulty smoke detectors.
Their landlord, Soon Kwon, missed an August re-inspection, when inspectors found he had failed to correct any
of the violations. Kwon told them he was vacationing in Europe.
So unfolded another chapter in a years-long dispute between Kwon and Burlington's Office of Code Enforcement over housing violations in his buildings.
Code Enforcement Director Bill Ward said Kwon's failure to address housing violations sets him apart from most landlords in Burlington. Tenants said
Kwon has yet to fix problems they have identified. Vermont's attorney general has sued him.
Kwon maintains his units are "very nice" and says he has been targeted unfairly by Burlington housing inspectors.
Kwon owns buildings at 34 Colchester Ave., 40-42 Colchester Ave., 66-68 South Union St. and 41 South Willard St. Inspectors have found housing
violations at several of the addresses, according to Code Enforcement reports.
"Most of our landlords are in compliance, but these properties are out of compliance in a number of ways," Ward said.
Ward said problem landlords tax his department's resources and, in some cases, put tenants in danger. He hopes a new sliding scale rating system Code
Enforcement debuted this year will encourage landlords to maintain their properties and help prospective renters identify bad landlords.
(Photo: KEVIN HURLEY./for the
FREE PRESS)
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Colchester Ave. residents Chris Thibeault, left, Blair Johnson and Zack Craig said they were unaware their apartment had outstanding housing code violations. (Photo:
Zach Despart/Free Press)
Back-and-forth
Each rental unit in Burlington is required to have a city-issued Certificate of Compliance, which certifies a property meets minimum housing standards.
The certificate for 40-42 Colchester Ave. expired in July 2014. Since then, housing inspectors said they have tried to work with Kwon to bring him into
compliance.
Ward said most city landlords correct housing violations before inspectors come by for a re-inspection. After eight inspections, from August 2014 and this
Aug. 12, Ward said Kwon has failed to bring the building up to code.
Throughout 2014, records show Kwon fixed some violations but not others. This summer, inspectors were unable to find evidence Kwon had attempted to
address violations.
July 7, inspectors found 24 violations and gave Kwon until Aug. 12 to correct them. Aug. 12, inspectors found 25 violations, according to Code
Enforcement reports.
Ward said he is frustrated Kwon was absent from inspections in June, July and August.
Kwon told Code Enforcement he would miss a July inspection because of a health issue. He later sent a letter to Code Enforcement indicating he would
miss the Aug. 12 inspection because of a planned vacation to Europe. Kwon attached a copy of his itinerary for an eight-day river cruise through Austria,
Germany and Hungary.
Ward described communication with Kwon as "challenging" and said he has yet to see an example of his working in good faith with the city to correct
code violations.
"If we see people making an honest effort, they'll get more time without questions," Ward said. "Here, we're not seeing the things he said would be
corrected."
Ward in June asked Kwon via email and voice mail to schedule a meeting with Code Enforcement to set dates for future code inspections and to discuss
the violations. He said Kwon ignored the entreaties.
Soon Kwon properties
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Burlington landlord Soon Kwon, shows the Burlington Free Press correspondence between himself the Office of Code Enforcement. (Photo: KEVIN HURLEY/for the FREE
PRESS)
Kwon reacts
Kwon, 78, told the Burlington Free Press he has rented in Burlington since the 1980s and never butted heads with city government until Ward became
head of Code Enforcement in 2010.
Since then, Kwon said, Ward has singled him out as a problem landlord.
"Somehow there is bad chemistry between Mr. Ward and myself," Kwon said. "The biggest problem I have is Mr. Ward never handles his affairs in a
reasonable way."
Kwon noted Ward's previous career as a Burlington police officer and said he believes Ward uses law enforcement techniques in dealing with landlords.
"I sensed that he looked at the property owners as some kind of criminals, with all kinds of suspicions," Kwon said.
Kwon, who lives in South Burlington, said he could think of no reason why Ward would describe him as one of Burlington's problem property owners.
Kwon said he will fix only the violations he agrees with.
The landlord said he has no time to meet with Ward and his inspectors. Kwon said he would attend future inspections of his property on the condition the
inspections fit into his schedule.
Ward dismissed the notion that Code Enforcement has singled out Kwon.
"We're not targeting him. We're targeting the violations," Ward said. "This is absolutely not personal."
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Zack Craig, a resident of 40-42 Colchester Ave., points out a cake tin his roommates have placed under a leaky ceiling in their apartment. (Photo: Zach Despart/Free Press)
Tenants: We didn't know of violations
Tenants Zack Craig, Chris Thibeault and Blair Johnson said Kwon said nothing when they signed the lease that 40 Colchester Ave. had a litany of
outstanding code violations. The trio of University of Vermont seniors they wished knew more about the property's history.
"If I had known that he doesn't deal with this stuff, I probably would not have signed the lease," Craig said.
Soon after the lease began in June, the students said they noticed several leaks from the ceiling, windows and bathtub of the basement-level apartment.
"You wake up in the morning, and there will just be a puddle there," Craig said.
The students said they notified Kwon about the leaks by phone, but the landlord has yet to fix them.
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University of Vermont junior Sam Mitchell holds a window he said does not shut properly at his apartment at 40-42 Colchester Ave. in Burlington. (Photo: Zach
Despart/Free Press)
VM junior Sam Mitchell, who lives in an upstairs unit, said Kwon declined to fix one sink in his bathroom because another sink in the bathroom functioned
properly.
Kwon's building at 40-42 Colchester Ave. has 14 bedrooms. Kwon said he charges $750 per bedroom per month, which totals $126,000 in revenue
annually if all units are occupied. According to city records, the total tax bill for the property in 2015 was $9,560. Tenants said they wondered where the
rest of their money went, if not for repairs.
Kwon said he earned only $7,000 to $8,000 in profit last year, due to vacancies and nonpayment of rent.
Kwon confirmed all three units are rented through May 2016, but declined to commit to using rent payments to bring the building up to code.
"The city violations I agree with, maybe," Kwon said.
Previous tenants withheld rent
Residents of 40-42 Colchester Ave. placed a mixing bowl on the floor of their apartment to catch water that dripped through the ceiling. (Photo: Zach Despart/Free Press)
Jason Yu, a UVM senior, said he rented the basement apartment at 40B Colchester Ave. with three friends from June 2014 to May 2015.
Yu said soon after moving in, he noticed the carpeted floors in the unit's bedrooms became wet after rain. Yu said mold began to grow in the apartment, a
claim corroborated by an Aug. 19, 2014, housing inspection report.
He said the carpet in his bedroom "was practically green."
Yu said Kwon ignored his roommates' requests to address the mold or wet floors. As a result, Yu said the students withheld rent for the final nine months
of the lease.
Yu said Kwon is seeking back rent in court. The students have retained a lawyer and are prepared to fight. At issue in the case is whether the landlord
violated the lease, giving the students the right to withhold rent.
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Kwon disputes the students' claim that he failed to address water in the apartment.
"They might have seen some wetness in the very beginning, but after I had the place steam cleaned, nothing," Kwon said.
Yu said Kwon failed to make repairs requested by the students for the duration of the lease. Yu said the unaddressed housing violations made the
apartment unsafe, noting the dryer caught fire in February or March.
Ward recalled the incident and said the students extinguished the fire before firefighters arrived. The most recent housing report includes a violation for a
blocked dryer vent.
Yu said based on his experience, he believes Kwon should be barred from renting units in Burlington.
"We never felt at any point throughout the entire lease that he tried one bit to fix a problem," Yu said.
History of disputes
This summer is far from the first time Kwon has sparred with city officials. A 2014 Burlington Police Department tally of nuisance properties indicated 40-
42 Colchester Ave. had the second most police noise complaint calls of any address in the city. Officers responded 16 times in a two-year period.
Ward in July 2014 wrote a letter to Kwon after visiting the property. Ward said he believed the poor condition of the units discouraged tenants from taking
care of the property.
Burlington landlord Soon Kwon said he does not agree with housing inspectors’ contention that fire exits at his 40-42 Colchester Ave. property are unsafe. (Photo: KEVIN
HURLEY/for the FREE PRESS)
"The property conditions are completely unacceptable and need your immediate attention," Ward wrote. "My inspection today ... shows the property is not
being maintained properly and may be contributing to the poor behavior of tenants."
Since 2013, Ward has written 10 tickets for trash outside Kwon's buildings on South Union and South Willard Streets. Fines totaled $1,750.
"Your property at 41 South Willard St. is a repeated source of disorder in the neighborhood," Ward wrote in a February letter to Kwan.
City Councilor Adam Roof, I-Ward 8, said he was appalled after he toured one of Kwon's properties while searching for an apartment in Burlington.

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"In my experiences, Soon Kwon's properties are categorically deplorable," Roof said. "While seeking housing for myself last spring I had the displeasure
of viewing one of his units, and I was saddened by the condition the current tenants were living."
Roof praised the work of Ward and his inspectors and urged Code Enforcement to hold bad property owners accountable.
Kwon's properties also have garnered the attention of state health officials. The Attorney General's Office sued Kwon in May, alleging he violated
Vermont's lead-paint law by failing to maintain properties built before 1978. Kwon declined to comment on that case, as it is ongoing.
Ward said Kwon is an anomaly among residential property owners in Burlington. Most city landlords, he said, maintain properties and work with housing
inspectors to correct violations.
The few problem landlords take up much of inspectors' time and city resources.
"I'd say we spend three or four times as much time on properties like these than we would on a typical inspection," Ward said.
Burlington housing inspector Tim Ahonen points out a clogged dryer vent at 40-42 Colchester Ave. on Aug. 12. Ahonen tallied 25 violations at the property. (Photo: Zach
Despart/Free Press)
Code Enforcement launched a new rental unit rating system in January that awards Certificates of Compliance for one to five years, based on the quality
of a unit.
Ward said based on the number of violations at the property, the highest 40-42 Colchester Ave. could receive is a two-year approval. Units receive
approval only after all violations are corrected.
Prospective tenants can call Code Enforcement for the inspection history of any unit, but Ward hopes in the future to create an online database with
inspection reports for each of Burlington's roughly 10,000 apartments.
As for bringing 40-42 Colchester Ave. into compliance, Ward said Code Enforcement will issue a $200-per-unit fine to Kwon if all code violations remain
uncorrected Aug. 31. Code Enforcement records show Ward fined Kwon $480 for failing to fix violations in July and August.
Ward added that if necessary, Kwon could be charged with a misdemeanor for failing to obey an order from the Code Enforcement director.
"We'll use any methods we need," Ward said.
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Contact Zach Despart at 651-4826 or zdespart@burlingtonfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ZachDespart.
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