Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has filed a lawsuit against Hubbard Gardens IN TC LP, owner of the Hubbard Gardens apartment complex in Indianapolis, alleging that the firm failed to maintain the property’s systems and protect tenants against open sewer conditions, including sewage in residential units.
Hubbard Gardens IN TC LP is a limited liability company based in Indianapolis. The property is managed by Cleveland-based real estate firm The Millennia Cos., according to its Apartments.com listing, and consists of approximately 330 units across 30 separate buildings, both affordable and market-rate. Millennia Cos. — No. 39 on the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Top 50 Owners list — identifies itself on its website as the owner and operator of all of its properties.
The lawsuit lists 89 pieces of litigation filed against Hubbard Gardens by the Marion County Health Department between Jan. 1, 2023 and Oct. 29, 2024. Of that number, 37 cases concerned sewer line failures that impacted a residential unit, 12 involved sewage failures in a common area and seven involved water damage.
The lawsuit notes that the county health code states that habitable areas should have well-maintained plumbing and sewage systems and should not have standing water.
Nineteen of the cases ended in conviction — 11 of them related to sewer failures — while 15 cases are still pending, according to the suit. The others were dismissed, either because the defendant became compliant or the unit was vacated.
In all, the Marion County Health Department has taken Hubbard Gardens to court 208 times and received 248 complaints about the property since 2018, according to local news outlet WTHR.
The suit includes images taken during a site visit to Hubbard Gardens by the attorney general’s Homeowner Protection Unit and the Marion County Health Department in September, showing black stains on walls and sandbags piled in front of doors.
During that visit, the attorney general reported that residents said sewage and plumbing issues had impacted them for months, according to the news release. Residents also shared photos of black mold, rodents and sinks overflowing with sewage with WTHR.
Need for habitability
The lawsuit contends that the owner and operator violated the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act, defining the defendant as a supplier and the tenants as customers. Its allegations include failing to keep the property in safe, clean and habitable condition; failing to remove sewage or remedy microbial contamination; and failing to respond to health department citations or fix violations in a timely manner.
In addition, the plaintiff alleges that the defendant knew or should have reasonably known that the units damaged by sewage were uninhabitable. By failing to properly repair the units and continuing to rent them out, the defendant deceived its renters as to the units’ habitability.
“Defendant failed to fulfill their legal obligations as a landlord in the State of Indiana by repeatedly failing to repair major systems, most notably sanitary lines, in a reasonable amount of time, repeatedly failing to correct local code citations after being noticed by the health department, and systematically failing to provide habitable dwellings to tenants in violation of [Indiana] code,” the lawsuit reads.
Hubbard Gardens LP did not respond to Multifamily Dive’s request for comment. The Millennia Cos. did not provide a statement by publication time.
The state has requested a jury trial and seeks restitution for impacted tenants, damages for emotional distress, a civil penalty of $5,000 per individual violation of the Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and investigation expenses.
