Landlords Speak Out, Ask Council to Rescind Rental Ordinance

Last Monday (7/30/07) evening four members of Borough Council and 18 landlords representing over 150 Parkesburg rental units met in Borough Hall to discuss the Borough’s recently enacted Rental Ordinance. The Ordinance, which was unanimously approved by council in October 2006, went into effect on January 1, 2007 and go into effect it did! Within a few months landlords were complaining loudly of frequent inspections, inconsistent feedback and added costs in an already slow market.

The meeting provided both council and members of the community a chance to air their concerns and frustrations and gave each a better understanding of the issues and challenges of each group.

Coming into the meeting the land lords listed the following concerns with the newly implemented rental ordinance:

1. No Grandfathering of recently inspected units. Units registered under the previous ordinance are given no consideration.

2. Preempting agencies are not listed; there is no way to know if units are exempt.

3. Tenant changes trigger re-inspection without any other cause. This could lead to several inspections a year per unit.

4. Conflicting info being given regarding complying, especially with GFI outlets and older two wire electrical systems and handrails.

5. Concerned that providing tenant names is a violation of tenant rights and opens owners to lawsuits.

6. Inspection is at the convenience of the Code Officer, only Thursdays, with no respect for owner’s work schedules.

7. Requiring owners to force tenants to allow inspection of their private residence without complaint or modification made to the unit.

8. Excessive power is granted to the Code Officer.

9. Double standard, rentals are to be inspected but not private residences.

10. The fees/inspections for common areas and rooming houses may be excessive, especially if required for each tenant change.

11. Do the fees reflect actual costs? If so, why does it cost Parkesburg more than West Chester to inspect?

Over the course of the two hour discussion each of these issues was discussed. The landlords expressed the frustration with the cost in time, effort and money of the inspections and how the costs were cutting into their already thin profit margins. Given the soft housing markets landlords have been unable to pass these costs on to renters in higher monthly rents. Attendees also expressed their opinion and thoughts on the other challenges facing Parkesburg including revitalizing the Main Street and First Avenue business districts, cleaning up the town and how to work together beyond this meeting.

At the end of the meeting Councilman David Jones took a poll of those in attendance asking if they wanted to see the ordinance changed or simply rescinded. As would be expected the landlords voted near unanimously to rescind the ordinance. Council agreed to consider their request.

A week later at the regularly scheduled Council Meeting President of Council Ken Knickerbocker announced all inspections and court cases resulting from enforcement of the ordinance had had been suspended to give the borough’s solicitor, a chance to revise the ordinance. Council hopes the revised ordinance will significantly reduce and possibly eliminate the impact the ordinance has on good landlords who keep their units neat, safe and orderly.

The first draft of the revised ordinance is expected to be available near the end of August. The revised ordinance will be brought to council as early as September for a vote after both council members and representative of the landlords have a chance to review and modify the ordinance to ensure it meets the stated objective.

Check back again in week or two for an update.

Notes:

1) Those in attendance at the meeting included Sharon Reinhart, Micky Reinhart, Rich Gorgo, John Skrabak, Jeff Hery, Lynn Rohr, Bob Keen, Dirk Hagan, Chuck Persch, Bob Connelly, Guy Jaquet, Bev Ely, Les Ely, Bob Cooke, Mel Keen, Chris Crockett. Representing the Borough government was Jim Thomas, Borough Manager, Ken Knickerbocker, David Jones, Tom Curtin and Willard Marsh from Council.

2) Thanks go to Mel Keen for providing some of the material in this posting and more importantly acting as an effective spokes person for the landlord group.