Latino Advocacy Group Takes Apartment to Court, Alleging Racially Targeted Neglect Maryland activists say a nationwide apartment company and a property management firm are raising Latino residents’ rent even as they refuse to properly repair run-down apartments plagued by rodents, mold and shabby infrastructure. Advocates for minority tenants in Maryland included this image of subpar window repairs in their lawsuit against real estate investors and property management firms that allegedly allow poor minority renters to live in squalor so the companies can save on costs. (Photo obtained by Courthouse News) A Latino advocacy group and tenants in Maryland filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing the owners, managers and lenders of a nationwide apartment company of keeping residents in squalid conditions in order to increase profits for its investors.