Landlord sells off dozens of Canton properties, causing confusion and panic among tenants
CANTON – Christina Lawrence got a text message at the end of August from Premier Homes with a rent payment link for the home she’s lived in since 2013.
“I automatically thought it was a scam and blew it off,” said Lawrence, who had never heard of the company.
The next day, Premier Homes sent her another text message that said it had bought her Fourth Street NW home and that future rent payments, starting with the one due on Sept. 1, should be sent to them.
Lawrence called her landlord, Stephen J. Filliez, in a panic. He denied that his family had sold her house. The Stark County Auditor’s Office website listed his father, Stephen D. Filliez, as the property owner.
The following day, on Aug. 30, a letter was posted to Lawrence’s door again informing her that Premier Homes had purchased the house and that her rent was due Sept. 1. She called the younger Filliez again and he asked her to send him a photo of the letter. He confirmed the sale that evening.
On Sept. 1, another notice appeared on Lawrence's front porch railing. It said she had three days to pay $500 in rent in September (even though Filliez had only charged her $475) and a $50 late fee. Or she would be evicted.
“I’ve lived here since 2013 ― that’s a long time ― and I have three large dogs,” Lawrence said. “Who is going to rent to me with three large dogs? Nobody.”
Stephen D. Filliez sells 79 rental homes in Canton
Lawrence isn’t alone. The elder Filliez, who faces four misdemeanor criminal charges for failing to maintain his properties and a lawsuit from a tenant, sold 79 of his rental properties to Premier Homes for $2.7 million, property records show. His wife, Irene, also sold two rental properties to Premier, county records show.
The Canton Repository talked with five tenants who said they were blindsided by the sale of their homes and are worried about coming up with their September rent in such a short amount of time. Canton’s Fair Housing office had received calls from at least 10 concerned tenants as of Thursday.
Each of the tenants that talked with the Repository said they had flexible payment agreements with Filliez where they could pay biweekly or pay closer to the end of the month when they received their paychecks. None of them had written leases.
Two of the tenants had paid Filliez a portion of their September rent. They worry they will never see the money again.
Why did Stephen D. Filliez sell his rental homes in Canton?
The elder Filliez, who lives in Perry Township, said he’s been trying to sell his Canton rental properties for years but previous potential buyers had been scams.
“It was just too overwhelming,” said Filliez, who still owns roughly 20 rental properties in Stark County. “They (Premier) snatched them up and we went with them.”
Filliez declined to comment on his pending court cases. He faces four separate misdemeanor criminal charges for failing to comply with Canton Building Department orders to correct property maintenance code violations at four of his properties. One of the properties has been sold to Premier Homes.
Filliez also faces a lawsuit from a former tenant in Stark County Common Pleas Court who has accused Filliez of renting a home to her that was uninhabitable. She said the 15th Street SW home in Canton, which she paid $1,400 to Filliez in a deposit and rent, lacked water and gas, so she did not have heat or hot water, and the exterior door did not properly lock.
Court records show that Filliez responded to the complaint by saying he doesn't owe the tenant anything because he restored the gas to the home and the family had still been living there with no issues.
Premier Homes: 'We like to clean up the city'
Johannes Schlabach, president of Premier Homes since 2012, said Premier bought the package of rental homes from Filliez because he wants to be involved in improving Canton.
“We like to clean up the city. That’s what we do,” said Schlabach, who has been living in the Canton area for 15 years. “We’re here to clean the properties up and make some nice living quarters for the people.”
Premier’s contractors have been traveling from house-to-house to fix exterior issues that do not meeting building code standards. Chuck’s Tree Service soon will be removing dead and overgrown trees from the properties.
Schlabach was surprised to learn that so many tenants had expressed confusion over the property transfer.
He said county property tax records were delayed in reflecting the sales due to the volume of transfers. But every tenant received notification of the new ownership and rent payment instructions by either text message or by a letter posted to their door.
Schlabach said Premier, which owns roughly 270 properties in Stark County, is not looking to push any tenants out of their homes.
He said the three-day notice that some tenants received was to get their attention and get them to respond to Premier's notifications.
“You won’t get evicted unless you don’t respond and pay (the rent),” Schlabach said. “… We prefer every single person stays.”
He said the company will provide some flexibility as tenants adjust to the new expectations and the new rent payment deadline at the first of the month.
“We’re expecting a couple of months of training, especially with the way things had run in the past,” he said.
He said if tenants still have concerns, they should call the phone numbers they have been given.
Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Premier Homes buys roughly 80 Stephen Filliez rental homes in Canton
