LYNN —Â A city attorney branded 99 Chatham St. “a death trap waiting to happen” after city inspectors said the building has been used as an illegal rooming house.
Inspector Andrew Young said inspectors and police officers counted 11 bedrooms secured by padlocks in the building — not counting rooms occupied by a first-floor family — following a mid week inspection.
The building is listed in city assessing records as a two-family home with four bedrooms.
“The way they operated it was as an illegal rooming house and unsafe structure,” Young said on Friday.
Overlooking the East Lynn commuter rail tracks, 99 Chatham tops a city code violation fine list with $15,000 in fines dating back six years. Attorney Vincent Phelan on Friday said violations include electrical work done without a permit and residential occupancy without a permit.
He said a large number of air conditioners in 99 Chatham’s windows prompted city officials this week to obtain an administrative search warrant issued Wednesday, he said, by District Court Clerk Magistrate Jane Brady Stirgwolt. Armed with the warrant, inspectors searched the building.
“They found many rooms used as single-occupancy rooms with locks on the doors,” Phelan said.
Phelan said informationÂ
obtained during the search will be listed in warrants returned to court next week.
“Most likely, criminal complaints will be taken out,” he said.
Revere Avenue resident Gemoline Stewart is listed as 99 Chatham’s current owner but a letter posted Friday on one of the building’s back doors by inspectors listed Mark Geohagen’s Fairville, N.Y., address. Geohagen owned the property between 2006 and 2009, according to city records and assessing records list the same address for Geohagen and Stewart.
Geohagen could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Young said inspectors found four bedrooms in the building’s basement; three on the second floor and four in the attic. Another letter posted on the building notifies residents they will be able to retrieve belongings under city supervision on Tuesday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
“This was a death trap waiting to happen,” Phelan said.