Detroit City Council orders inspections of Munoz Realty's entire rental portfolio

The Detroit City Council has directed the city's building department to inspect every residential and commercial property owned, managed, or operated by Munoz Realty and its owner, Gaston Munoz.

The resolution, introduced by Council Member Mary Waters, passed unanimously on Tuesday. It calls on the Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department, known as BSEED, to conduct a comprehensive assessment of Munoz's full portfolio to determine compliance with city rental, health, and safety rules.

The directive follows a legal settlement the council approved in July involving Munoz Realty. Under that agreement, Munoz must abate 299 properties on a monthly schedule and get them re-inspected and certified by BSEED. Once the properties are rehabilitated, the city will cut Munoz's blight ticket fines, which total roughly $460,000, in half. Munoz must still pay outstanding debts for water bills, taxes, and inspection fees.

At the time the lawsuit was filed, only 34 percent of the more than 453 properties Munoz owned or managed had a required certificate of compliance from BSEED showing they had been inspected and were safe to live in. That left 299 properties in violation of both city and state laws, according to the legal complaint.

Waters was one of three council members who voted against the July settlement. She said the agreement was not tough enough and incentivized bad behavior. Council members Renata Miller and Denzel McCampbell also voted no.

"The guy has a lot of properties. We cannot continue to allow landlords like that to put our people in deplorable conditions," Waters said. "We can't tolerate that anymore."

Waters said the settlement addresses only 299 properties, but she believes the city must go further. "There are more," she said. "We want them to inspect all the rest of them."

The resolution directs BSEED to give special attention to occupied properties, particularly those housing children or seniors. It also calls for verification that all properties addressed under the settlement are brought into full compliance and that repairs are completed properly and within reasonable timeframes. The council wants regular written reports from BSEED detailing progress toward compliance, the status of repairs, abatements, and violations.

Waters said she wants the inspections completed "as quickly as possible," but council members acknowledged that BSEED does not currently have the resources to handle a portfolio-wide review. Waters said funding for the department will be a priority during the city's next budget talks.

"We have to find out from BSEED what it will take to get these inspections done," Waters said.

Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett said in a written statement Wednesday that the city does not believe Munoz has complied with the court order. As a result, the city filed a motion this month asking the circuit court to order Munoz and his corporate entities to consistently abate 10 properties per month. The city is also requesting the court order Munoz to pay all outstanding fees owed to BSEED, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, and the city treasury for any properties where certificates of compliance have already been issued.

The motion is scheduled for a court hearing on October 7, 2026.

To date, 50 properties listed in the court's order have been inspected by a third-party inspector following BSEED protocols, and BSEED has issued 33 certificates of compliance, Mallett said.

Munoz did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the resolution or progress under the settlement. In July, he said in an email that he would follow the approved settlement terms as stated.

The legal settlement with Munoz is similar to other agreements the city has reached involving landlords with large portfolios of blighted properties. Last year, the city sued Real Token, a blockchain real estate firm that owns rental properties with hundreds of violations. The firm has since said it plans to sell off its entire portfolio of properties in Detroit.