Amanda Hargreaves and her neighbors are eager to see property owned by convicted rapist Arlin Jordin at 1311 W. Ninth Ave. in Spokane sold. The fire marshal temporarily shut down the rental property, but now it is in much better shape.
(Full-size photo)

Six months after the fire marshal temporarily shut down a rental property owned by convicted rapist Arlin Jordin, neighbors, tenants and inspectors say his house on the lower South Hill is in much better shape.

But neighbors who sued Jordin in small claims court over the disturbances at the property say they’re still eager to see it sold, a condition Jordin agreed to in a court settlement signed last November.

Jordin owns and runs five Spokane rental properties from his prison cell in Connell, Washington, about an hour and a half outside of town. His rental business was the subject of a Spokesman-Review article last November, which detailed allegations by tenants, managers and neighbors that many of Jordin’s 42 units were poorly maintained, leaving low-income tenants with little recourse. Many people with direct knowledge of his properties said police were regularly called to the buildings, which had a rotating cast of property managers who one neighbor described as sometimes “more frightening than the tenants.”

Jordin did not respond to a letter seeking comment on that article last fall. But in a recent phone call from Connell he said the allegations are either untrue or the result of dishonest and incompetent managers. He maintains that damages at his rental properties have largely been caused by tenants or poor management and are not the result of neglect on his part.

Jordin was convicted of second-degree rape and indecent liberties in 2006 after a woman he had shown an apartment to said she blacked out after accepting two drinks from him and woke up to Jordin having intercourse with her.

He’s been behind bars since 2007 and lost an appeal on the case in 2008.

Last November, the Spokane fire marshal declared Jordin’s rental property at 1311 W. Ninth Ave. substandard and gave tenants 24 hours to vacate the premises. The house didn’t have a working fire alarm or adequate weatherproofing, and several units were without heat. Water was leaking from pipes in a second-floor studio.

Those conditions were corrected by the end of December, Deputy Fire Marshal Megan Phillips said. She worked with Jordin’s daughter, Shauna, to get the property back into shape.

“They worked hard to get the corrections made, and I know his daughter was very anxious to get people back into the building,” Phillips said in January. Since then, she said, no issues have been reported with the property.

Jordin maintains his innocence on the rape charge he was convicted of, and said he’s been taken advantage of by property managers and tenants who he’s unable to screen personally because he’s behind bars.

“I didn’t know things were as run-down as they were,” he said of the West Ninth house.

He’s eager to speak about his days before the rape conviction, when he worked in the insurance industry and ran rental properties as a side business. Jordin said he bought his first Spokane home on the South Hill in 1970 and has tried to buy historic homes.

“What I wanted to do was take beautiful old homes that had deteriorated and fix them up,” he said.

Jordin communicates directly with property managers from prison on the phone, though his daughter, who lives in Canada, helps him communicate with people as needed. At the time Jordin’s home was shut down by the fire department, multiple tenants said Jordin was often reluctant to spend money to make repairs at his properties, something he denies.

“1311 and I have had better times,” he said of the West Ninth property. But, “I’m trying as hard as I possibly can, I’m spending loads of money.” He said he’s invested all the rent money he’s received from tenants back into the properties and has not made a profit on his rentals since he’s been in prison, and said he can only fix problems when they’re reported to him.

Neighbors say he’s been aware of the high volume of police calls and other problems at his houses for years.

“He knew what was going on, he just chose not to do anything about it,” said Amanda Hargreaves, who lives across the street and was one of the neighbors who sued Jordin last May over nuisance conditions at his house.

Inspectors said the property showed signs of long-deferred maintenance. Fire Marshal Lisa Jones said Jordin was mailed notice of the violations at the house several weeks before the fire department ordered it closed.

The house is now managed by Josh Thosath with NuKey Realty, a property management company. Of the house’s five apartments, only one is now occupied by someone who lived there when the house was ordered closed.

Emily Clay and Baylee Allert, both 22, moved into a three-bedroom apartment on the ground floor in early May with one other roommate. They said they didn’t know anything about the house’s history or owner, but were happy with the unit and its management.

Neighbors agreed.

“The new tenants have been fine. We haven’t had any problems,” Hargreaves said.

In the suit against Jordin that Hargreaves joined last May, neighbors complained of “constant disturbances” at the house, including fights, people throwing trash over the fence and drug use.

Thosath said he’s been doing background and credit checks for new tenants, something Jordin’s previous managers weren’t doing at the property.

“We try to get a better caliber of tenant than what the building’s seen in the past,” he said.

The settlement required Jordin to sell the house at a fair market price and list it with a real estate agent if it didn’t sell within six months.

“They’re forcing me to sell it, something I’ve owned for 35 years,” Jordin said. He made the offer to sell the house when the settlement was being negotiated last fall.

“I offered to do it at that particular time … because they wanted to get rid of me more than they wanted to get rid of the building,” he said, referring to the neighbors.

A “for sale” sign on the house had listed an asking price of $325,000. Shauna Jordin said the house had received one full-price offer that fell through. The house has been relisted for $275,000.

Though neighbors are happy with the improvements, they’re skeptical those improvements will stick unless the house has a new owner.

“Given the history, it’s hard to believe that if you let him off the hook he would continue to run it in a proper fashion,” Hargreaves said.