ST. PAUL, Minn. — A company that owns 17 low-income apartments in St. Paul has filed a federal complaint against the city.

Raven Financial is challenging the city’s right to demolish the rentals or force housing improvements, according to the Pioneer Press (http://bit.ly/1cVNnJz ).

The premise, which has been repeated by several landlords since at least 2004 in various courts, is that strict code enforcement makes it too expensive to provide affordable housing to the poor.

The complaint was filed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development against St. Paul, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency and the Payne-Phalen District 5 Planning Council.

The landlord is challenging the city’s order in early 2013 to either improve or tear down a six-bedroom duplex.

According to the complaint, three licensed contractors and a state building official estimated one duplex needed from $5,000 to $16,450 in improvements in order to meet the state building code.

The city, however, ordered at least $45,000 in repairs, and when the improvements were not made it ordered the duplex demolished.

In response to previous lawsuits, Mayor Chris Coleman and other city officials have maintained that city housing inspectors have found too many rental units with no heat, mice infestations and other evidence that the poor are being taken advantage of by landlords eager to get federal housing vouchers.

City officials said many of the properties in the latest complaint have been notorious problems for years.

“If you Google any of these addresses, you’ll get the full (city) council files on all of these properties,” said City Attorney Sara Grewing, who said she had yet to receive a copy of the complaint.