The members signed a lease at 1148 E. Grand River Ave. that was supposed to begin Aug. 1, but because the house has been vacant since December 2006, they needed to re-apply for a rental license.

“From what I understand, City Council usually takes the recommendation of the Housing Commission, and Housing Commission gave us a favorable recommendation. I don’t see any specific reason why City Council would deny that,” said Scott Gordon, president of Alpha Epsilon Pi.

Councilmember Nathan Triplett said the council generally takes recommendations from the city’s boards and commissions very seriously, and he expects council to vote on the issue tonight.

“Initially, there was a list several pages long of code violations to make the property habitable, but now, under new ownership all those issues (have) been resolved,” he said.

The house originally was put on the Housing Commission’s agenda this summer, but the commission could not give the recommendation until Nov. 20, said Annette Irwin, East Lansing’s operations administrator for Code Enforcement and Neighborhood Conservation.

“It’s in the hands of the owner and they were never ready,” she said. “The owner usually pulled the item off the agenda because it was not ready.”

The house was previously owned by Beta Tau Alumni Corp., but was purchased by GTW Investment Properties, LLC., in October, Irwin said.