MOUNT WASHINGTON, Ky. — The residents of the Live Oaks Mobile Home park and Spectrum News 1 are finally hearing from the management company about multiple rent hikes.
Spectrum News 1 began investigating resident claims in January and hasn’t been able to speak with management. The company wouldn’t return our calls, so the Mount Washington city council asked them to watch our stories and respond.
Heather Thacker spoke before the city council on Monday, March 27. Thacker works for Lasso Capital, the New York City-based private investment company that owns Live Oaks.
She was at the meeting because Live Oaks wants a nearby property to be rezoned so they can buy it and expand the park. Instead, Thacker wound up answer questions Spectrum News 1 has been trying to ask her since January.
The rezoning question quickly pivoted to the people currently living in the mobile home park when Councilman Greg Gentry said, “There are major issues there that, in my opinion, need to be addressed before anything else is put there.”
The Spectrum News 1 investigation revealed repeated ownership changes at Live Oaks among private, out-of-state investment groups, large rent increases, claims of rent-to-own agreements not being honored and cash down payments that were allegedly made but are being disputed.
For months, Spectrum News 1 has tried asking Live Oaks’ director, Thacker, about the allegations, but she’s never returned a phone call.
The Mount Washington City Council wanted answers.
Councilman Layne Abell asked Thacker, “Are you aware of some bad publicity that you all have had?”
Thacker answered, “Absolutely.”
Councilman Abell continued by saying, “OK, so you’re aware of Kayla Moody?”
She replied, “Yes, I am.”
Abell continued to question Thacker, asking, “OK, did you ever contact Ms. Moody back?”
Her response to Abell was, “We did not speak with her, no.”
During the council meeting, a pair of Spectrum News 1’s investigative stories on Live Oaks were shown and afterwards, they questioned Thacker about them.
Abell asked, “I certainly want to give you the opportunity to respond to that, anything you want to there.”
Thacker stated, “Do you have any questions first?”
She told the council, current ownership—Lasso Capital—has received no documentation from the previous owner, The Firm, or Live Oaks tenants showing the existence of rent-to-own agreements or evidence of $5,000 down payments.
Thacker said the company is trying to make it right.
She told the council, “We had given them a one-page document stating that if they would like to purchase their home, we will give them $1,500 toward their down payment in lieu of what had happened previous to our ownership just to help them get off that.”
But according to the documents tenants shared with Spectrum News 1, Lasso Capital is not giving tenants anything outright.
The document offers tenants the opportunity to buy their home for $70,000 and says if they complete the purchase within the next six months, Live Oaks will offer them a $1,500 rent credit toward their “down payment if financing; or the purchase price if buying in cash.”
Thacker said, “Home ownership. That’s our goal in the whole aspect of it.”
Our reporting shows home ownership is what many Live Oaks tenants sought when they moved into the mobile home park, but they say the practices Thacker and Live Oaks’ current owners now must answer for, took those dreams away.
Monday was just the first reading of the rezoning request, so they did not make a decision.
The council also voiced concerns about sewer issues at Live Oaks, a lack of amenities for the people who live there and confusing property records.
They also said they could not find a deed showing the transfer of Live Oaks from The Firm to Lasso Capital. Spectrum News spoke with Lasso Capital Tuesday, March 28, and they said they were looking into the claims made by the council and would report back as soon as they could.