Lawsuits show South Bend landlord violations go months, years without collection
SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- Fines for out-of-compliance apartments are meant to be collected, but one former Notre Dame law professor discovered the City of South Bend lets fines go months unpaid and collecting dust.
"They were fining people, but they weren't actually collecting on those fines," Judith Fox said. "Laws that aren't being enforced don't help."
As a clinical law professor, Fox was especially interested in housing matters, a passion that persisted in her retirement.
"I ran the economic justice project, which represented low-income folks, primarily in housing issues," she said.
Fox requested records from the City of South Bend to see how many fines had been assessed but never collected. While waiting on that data, she learned that the city had begun filing lawsuits.
"In the meantime, in February of 2026, the city did start suing apartment complexes, landlords, who owed a lot of money in unpaid RSVP fines," she said.
RSVP refers to the city's Rental Safety Verification Program.
Between Feb. 1 and April 4, the city filed 209 lawsuits, Fox said, suing dozens of landlords.
One such suit is against the owners of the Beacon Heights apartments for more than $50,000, the result of 159 combined ordinance violations, $250 each, issued almost two years ago.
"Almost all those were for fees assessed in 2024. So, you know, there was a good 2-year gap," Fox said. "Why did it take so long to file these fees?"
Each $250 fine adds up.
"When I've been talking to people, I was told the number is approaching $4 million. I don't know if that's true. It is approaching $2 million that they sued on in February," Fox said.
One landlord, Invision 360 Properties LLC, which owns numerous houses across the city, had the largest total in accrued fines. It was sued in March for nearly $130,000 for fines issued between September 2023 and July 2025.
Fox said the problem runs deep.
"Talking to different officials in the city, I was getting a very consistent story, which is that the policy was, 'We don't-- it's too complicated to collect, especially from out-of-state landlords, so we just wait to collect our fines until they sell the property,'" Fox said. "Well, to me, that sends a very bad message, which is basically, 'You can let this property deteriorate indefinitely.'"
ABC57 reached out to the City of South Bend for an interview to ask why fines accrued months, even years ago are only going to collections now.
A city spokesperson sent ABC57 the following statement:
"The city is advancing safe, affordable homes across South Bend with historic, transformative investments, with over $291 million in awarded LITHC projects alone since 2022.
The primary goal with enforcement is compliance with local laws and improvement of living conditions. The city treats small and large violators equally, using litigation as a last resort. All property owners are given multiple opportunities to correct violations and pay outstanding fines. Violations that go unaddressed continue to accrue additional fines, and the City provides a final demand before referring to outside legal collections, which are often batched for efficiency. To prevent multiple lawsuits on the same issue and needlessly overburdening the Court system, there is often an intentional accrual period with zoning and rental safety violations.
Because the City implements enforcement and collection processes across a variety of ordinances, there are varying timelines and processes that are determined by each ordinance. For example, grass and rental safety violations are not an apples-to-apples comparison."
Fox said she believes policy is the solution to problems like these, arguing proper enforcement would protect tenants living in less-than-ideal conditions. She's partnered with the local faith-based activist group "We Make Indiana" to conduct this research.
She has also joined the new housing task force with Portage Township, which will travel to nearby communities and research city-level policy recommendations.