Imagine living in a home with no running water, or renting an apartment with ceilings that are caving in and electrical outlets that don’t provide power.

These are just some of the brutal living conditions at the center of a massive lawsuit filed by the city of Detroit. RealToken, a Florida-based blockchain real estate company, has been accused of public nuisance violations that involve hundreds of residential properties in Detroit.

Don’t miss

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

“This is the largest nuisance abatement lawsuit ever filed by the city of Detroit,” Conrad Mallett, corporation counsel for the city of Detroit, shared with the Detroit Free Press.

One RealToken tenant — an older American named Brenda Davis, who’s lived in her apartment for 16 years with only one late rent payment — found herself facing eviction when she stopped paying rent after her water was shut off.

“After being here 16 years, this is what you’re going to do to an elderly person?” said Davis. “It makes no sense. And they should not be able to keep doing this and getting away with it.”

What is a blockchain real estate company?

RealToken, or RealT, is a company that allows investors around the world to invest in the U.S. housing market by offering “fractional ownership of Detroit properties represented as digital tokens,” according to the lawsuit.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Launched in 2019, the company has garnered more than 65,000 investors who, based on the company’s website, have invested in “fully-compliant, fractional, tokenized ownership” of rental properties. Buying these “representative tokens” gives investors an ownership share in the properties, which includes voting rights and regular payments of rental income.

Despite RealToken being located in Florida, the company’s properties are primarily located in Detroit. RealToken reportedly hired local management companies to support tenants in Detroit and ensure the units are properly maintained. In response to the lawsuit, RealToken blames these management companies for the poor living conditions in its properties.

“These companies were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to oversee RealToken’s properties, address tenant complaints and make repairs, and maintain each of our properties in accordance with City of Detroit municipal codes,” said RealToken in a statement shared with the Detroit Free Press.

“As it turns out, there are many instances where these goals were not achieved, and each management company, in its own way, stole these funds to the detriment of RealToken and more importantly, the tenants we serve.”

Read more: Americans are ‘revenge saving’ to survive — but millions only get a measly 1% on their savings. Here’s how to quickly earn 280% more on your cash

City officials aren’t buying it

“The landlords are pretty much faceless, the investors sometimes are overseas and the damage is very real,” Detroit City Councilwoman Angela Calloway shared with WXYZ.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

That damage has left tenants coping with a host of issues, including rodents, sinks that don’t work, cracks in windows, structural issues and fire hazards. The lawsuit also alleges that RealToken owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes.

“For years, we’ve seen a pattern that must end,” said Mary Waters, an at-large Council Member. “Slumlord and scam artists exploiting Detroit renters, unsafe housing, unreturned security deposits, illegal evictions. These are not just individual cases. They are systemic failures.”

The city filed the lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court, alleging violations of health and safety codes as well as local building codes. The lawsuit is also seeking $500,000 in unpaid tickets.

City officials are urging a judge to order that all RealToken rent payments must be put into an escrow account, and that no eviction notices will be sent out until all of RealToken’s properties pass a compliance inspection.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

RealToken, however, claims it has not yet been served with a lawsuit. Meanwhile, the company claims in its statement that it’s working on fixing the issue, but warns that “this process cannot happen overnight. It takes time. But we are committed to addressing every issue and finally execute on our original mission.”

What rights do tenants have in these situations?

While the lawsuit works its way through the courts, many of the tenants are still suffering from RealToken’s failure to provide a safe living environment. This is why it’s important for tenants to understand their legal rights.

The State of Michigan is very clear about tenants’s rights, requiring landlords to ensure that properties are habitable, which means rented units must have:

Walls and a roof that are structurally sound

Hot and cold running water

A working HVAC system

Working toilets

Working plumbing

A working electrical system

Safe stairs with railings

No combustible materials

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

If a landlord does not make any necessary repairs, tenants can:

Make repairs themselves and deduct the cost from rent payments

Withhold rent until the repairs are made

Terminate the lease

There are also low-cost or even free options in most states for tenants to get legal help with landlord issues. For example, Michigan Legal Help has resources that residents can use to find an advocate. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also has a list of all the different resources tenants can use to find legal services in their state.

But before exploring legal options, if you’re struggling with unsafe living conditions in your home, contact your landlord and inform them of the issues. Just remember to document everything during your correspondence.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

If the landlord proves to be less than helpful, you can decide whether you want to pay for the repairs yourself and deduct the cost from rent, withhold rent altogether, or seek legal assistance.

What to read next

Stay in the know. Join 200,000+ readers and get the best of Moneywise sent straight to your inbox every week for free. Subscribe now.

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

This NBA player’s new home — in South Beach’s tallest tower — is a slam dunk.

Precious Achiuwa has just bought a two-bedroom, 2.5-bath condo at Five Park Miami Beach, a 519-foot-high, 48-story residential tower at 500 Alton Road, Gimme Shelter can reveal.

The purchase of the new aerie could be another sign that the New York Knicks are not expected to re-sign Achiuwa, a free agent as of June 30.

Precious Achiuwa. NBAE via Getty Images

The building stands tall along the shores. Courtesy Five Park Miami Beach

A similar kitchen included in the building’s two-bedroom units. Antonio Tur

Achiuwa was drawn to the unit for its location and views, as well as its “luxury and tranquility in the heart of Miami, yet it still feels private and peaceful,” he told Gimme in an emailed statement.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

While the final price is not yet known, similar two-bedroom units in the tower range from $2 million to $3 million. The 1,451-square-foot nest comes with a 448-square-foot terrace. Inside, there are 10-foot-high ceilings, a chef’s kitchen and a large primary bedroom.

Achiuwa hired Adriana Hoyos for the interior designs.

For real estate players who want in on the game, a $22 million penthouse in the tower, designed and furnished by Interior Marketing Group, has just hit the market. The spacious residence is 5,888 square feet, with four bedrooms and 6.5 baths.

The tower was designed by Arquitectonica with interiors by Gabellini Sheppard.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

The edifice also includes 50,000 square feet of amenities. There’s a sixth-floor pool deck, as well as a residents-only social club on the 26th floor, designed by Andy Andrei, with private dining, a library den, outdoor terraces, and wellness and gym areas.

Achiuwa’s unit will look similar to this lavish space inside the development. Antonio Tur

This being South Florida, there are dazzling resort-style amenities. Michael Munty

The tower is from powerhouse developers David Martin, of Terra, and Russell Galbut, of GFO Investments and, said Martin, it “embodies the city’s global identity.”

Achiuwa was repped by Simon Mass of TCS Miami; Five Park Miami Beach in-house sales are led by Douglas Elliman Florida.

Newly released data from Realtor.com for April shows potential buyers and sellers in Livingston County saw higher home sales prices than the previous month’s median of $379,900.

The median home sold for $483,100, an analysis of data from Realtor.com shows. That means April, the most recent month for which figures are available, was up 27.2% from March.

Compared to April 2024, the median home sales price was up 39.4% compared to $346,500.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Realtor.com sources sales data from real estate deeds, resulting in a few months’ delay in the data. The statistics don’t include homes currently listed for sale and aren’t directly comparable to listings data.

Information on your local housing market, along with other useful community data, is available at data.livingstondaily.com.

Here’s a breakdown on median sale prices:

Looking only at single-family homes, the $397,500 median selling price in Livingston County was down 1.9% in April from $405,000 the month prior. Since April 2024, the sales price of single-family homes was up 13.3% from a median of $350,722. Four single-family homes sold for $1 million or more during the month, compared to three recorded transactions of at least $1 million in April 2024.

Condominiums and townhomes increased by 53.7% in sales price during April to a median of $538,000 from $349,950 in March. Compared to April 2024, the sales price of condominiums and townhomes was up 65.6% from $324,950. Two condominiums or townhomes sold for $1 million or more during the month, compared to one recorded transaction of at least $1 million in April 2024.

In April, the number of recorded sales in Livingston County rose by 25.7% since April 2024 — from 214 to 269. All residential home sales totaled $128.6 million.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Across Michigan, homes sold at a median of $240,030 during April, up 3.2% from $232,607 in March. There were 10,478 recorded sales across the state during April, down 4.1% from 10,921 recorded sales in April 2024.

Here’s a breakdown for the full state:

The total value of recorded residential home sales in Michigan increased by 24.2% from $2.6 billion in March to $3.2 billion this April.

Of all residential home sales in Michigan, 1.73% of homes sold for at least $1 million in April, up from 1.24% in April 2024.

Sales prices of single-family homes across Michigan increased by 1.3% from a median of $223,997 in March to $226,875 in April. Since April 2024, the sales price of single-family homes across the state was up 3.6% from $218,905.

Across the state, the sales price of condominiums and townhomes rose 6.6% from a median of $294,762 in March to $314,295 during April. The median sales price of condominiums and townhomes is up 13.3% from the median of $277,375 in April 2024.

The median home sales price used in this report represents the midway point of all the houses or units listed over the given period of time. The median offers a more accurate view of what’s happening in a market than the average sales price, which would mean taking the sum of all sales prices then dividing by the number of homes sold. The average can be skewed by one particularly low or high sale.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Realtor.com. Please leave any feedback or corrections for this story here. This story was written by Ozge Terzioglu. Our News Automation and AI Team would like to hear from you. Take this survey and share your thoughts with us.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Homes in Livingston County sold for higher prices in April. Here’s how much

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Despite opposition from some property owners and city leaders, Vancouver has approved a program that will enforce rental registration fees for landlords.

Nearly nine months after discussing the program at a Vancouver City Council workshop last October, officials passed it with a 4-3 vote at a meeting on Monday.

Washington judge issues order halting ‘absurd’ deportation of Portland family with 4 kids

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

The new municipal code will require landlords to pay a registration fee of $30 per unit by Feb. 15 of each calendar year, in addition to applying for or renewing a business license. The registration will ask them for information such as the year their property was built, the number of units it holds and what type of rental it is — from multi-family housing to accessory dwelling units.

Short-term rentals, hotels, emergency shelters and nursing homes are among the properties exempt from these requirements, Housing Programs Manager Samantha Whitley said.

She claimed the registration fee will help officials administer the new policy. Whitley also noted the city won’t enforce fees for the first 90 days of the program in an effort to encourage property owners and managers to comply.

The program aims to help the city track and maintain its housing supply, according to Vancouver Economic Development Director Patrick Quinton.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

“The rental registration program is kind of a foundational piece to put in place so that we have an accurate database of the rental housing stock within our community,” Quinton said. “Our ability to then move into other programmatic areas, including regular inspections and work to improve the habitability of our rental housing stock, is really dependent on us establishing this database — and rental registration is really the proven method to get there.”

Ombudsman calls for amended Portland towing contract after complaints of overcharging

He noted the city has focused on improving its housing supply for about a decade now, with the Affordable Housing Task Force formed in 2016, the Reside Vancouver “anti-displacement plan” established in 2019 and the Heights District Equitable Development plan from 2023.

The city holds nearly 40,000 renter-occupied units, many of which are one-to-four unit properties. Quinton claimed the smaller residences are less likely to have professional property managers who can help the city track housing, and more likely to have older properties — hence why officials are trying to boost regulations.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Benjamin Moody, the Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program’s Housing Programs Managing Attorney, said the new rental registration policies could benefit low-income tenants.

“Our clients are vulnerable and, like so many renters, they don’t have resources,” Moody added. “They don’t know their rights and, even if they do know them, they also understand the reality that they are vulnerable to the retaliation and mismanagement of landlords.”

He claimed his clients have experienced illegally constructed homes, sewage leaks, and asbestos-filled walls.

But as advocates of the new program believe it would benefit Vancouver’s habitable housing supply and tenants, the Washington Multifamily Housing Association argued it could prompt “unintended consequences” for residents and those who manage their properties.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Small puppy given Narcan after being exposed to fentanyl in Washington

“Combined with recent state legislative changes and an already complex regulatory landscape, the program would add significant costs and staffing burdens — factors that are often overlooked as these programs are rolled out,” WMFHA’s William Schneider told councilors. “This structure penalizes the very developers and operators who are working to build and maintain the 38,000 multifamily housing units the City of Vancouver desperately needs.”

Councilmember Bart Hansen, one of three city leaders who voted against the program, said he believes tenants will be forced to pay the $30 registration fee in the form of a rent increase. Although Councilmember Diana Perez voted in favor of the change, she said she doesn’t want small landlords to be treated like “corporate landlords.”

The city plans to open registration at the beginning of 2026.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.

A new study reveals that the median age of renters in the United States is increasing, particularly over the past decade.

Point2Homes, a rental website, examined the 75 most populous metropolitan areas in the United States and found that renting is now more common among adults aged 65 and older in 2023 than in 2013.

Nationally, the number of renters over 65 has grown by almost 30%, representing approximately 2.4 million renters in 10 years. The only other age group to experience a significant increase was renters aged 55 to 64 years old, with approximately 483,900 more renters.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

The analysis cites downsizing from larger family homes, avoiding the costs and upkeep associated with ownership, and prioritizing proximity to family or medical services as potential motivators for renting.

Here’s what the analysis found about renting in Tennessee.

Did the median rent age increase in Tennessee?

Overall, there are more people over 65 renting in Tennessee’s major cities than there were 10 years ago. When looking at the increase in the number of renters, over 24,000 people over the age of 65 began renting between 2013 to 2023.

Knoxville

Knoxville had the smallest increase in the state and among the 75 largest cities in the nation. In Knoxville, there was only a 0.1% increase in the percentage of renters between 2013 and 2023, equivalent to about 22 renters. There was also an overall decrease in the number of renters aged 18 to 64.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Here is the breakdown of renters by age group in Knoxville:

Renters 18-24: 21.8%

Renters 25-34: 24.2%

Renters 35-44: 18.5%

Renters 45-54: 11.3%

Renters 55-64: 11.1%

Renters 65+: 13.1%

Memphis

Memphis had the largest increase in Tennessee and the 23rd largest increase in the United States. In Memphis, the number of renters aged 65 and older increased by 44.4% from 2013 to 2023. This increase amounts to about 11,132 more renters. The area saw a decrease in every other age group by at least 0.5%.

Here is the breakdown of renters by age group in Memphis:

Renters 18-24: 15.4%

Renters 25-34: 28.0%

Renters 35-44: 20.4%

Renters 45-54: 13.8%

Renters 55-64: 10.8%

Renters 65+: 11.6%

Nashville

Nashville experienced the second-largest increase in Tennessee and the 25th-largest increase nationwide in renters aged 65 and older. Nashville saw a 40.6% increase in renters of this age group. This increase amounts to 13,691 more renters in 2023 than in 2013.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement Advertisement

Here is the breakdown of renters by age group in Nashville:

Renters 18-24: 18.4%

Renters 25-34: 31.8%

Renters 35-44: 19.5%

Renters 45-54: 11.9%

Renters 55-64: 8.7%

Renters 65+: 9.7%

U.S. metros where the median age of renters grew the most

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had the largest increase of the 75 measured cities, at 88.7%. The area experienced declines in every other age group, except for those aged 35-44, which saw a 19.5% increase.

Here are changes other metro areas saw:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana: 88.7% increase Jacksonville, Florida: 83.7% increase Austin, Texas: 81.1% increase New Orleans, La.: 69.7% increase Dallas, Texas: 66.5% increase Raleigh, North Carolina: 63.5% increase Bridgeport, Connecticut: 60.4% increase Houston, Texas: 60.3% increase Lakeland, Fla.: 54.1% increase Charlotte, N.C.: 53.5% increase

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tennessee is seeing more senior renters. Here’s why