Facing $20,000 in fines, 250+ code violations, rental owner unloads Rochester portfolio

An Arizona-based rental property owner slapped with thousands of dollars in code violation fines earlier this year has sold a portfolio of 22 Rochester homes to another out-of-market real estate investor.

Renpro, LLC, headquartered in the Oneida County village of Camden, paid $3.65 million to Amy Schaefer, Christopher Schaefer and Christopher Lee Schaefer of Phoenix for a collection of single-family and twin homes scattered across the city.

The sales documents were filed on Tuesday with the Monroe County Clerk’s office.

Back in January, Christopher Schaefer was summoned to state Supreme Court in Monroe County after city officials logged more than 250 code violations on just six of the rental properties he owned.

Of those violations, 100 were directly related to health and safety, according to the complaint filed with the court, and the six properties did not have a valid certificate of occupancy.

Those six homes were among the 22 sold by Schaefer on Tuesday: 56 Saranac St., 638-640 North Goodman St., 1594 N. Goodman, 102 Clifford Ave., 866-868 Plymouth Ave. and 905-907 Plymouth Ave.

Schaefer was ordered to remedy the code violations and was fined $20,000 in an agreement reached through the court. The city agreed to reduce the fines to $12,000 if repairs were made within a specified time period.

However, a city spokesperson said the code violations were not addressed in the seven months that have passed since filing of the lawsuit, and in the five months since the agreement was reached.

Schaefer paid $1,000 toward the fines. The city intends to pursue him for the remaining balance of $19,000.

“The law department also will be contacting the new owner to make sure it is understood that the code violations must be addressed,” said Barbara Pierce, director of the city’s Bureau of Communications.

Renpro is an investor-owned real estate rental firm that owns and manages more than 100 properties in Central New York. The purchase from Schaefer marks the company’s first venture into the Rochester market.

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