Tensions with FLLA Rises

I was given permission to post this in its entirety. This is what was read by the landlords group to the rental board on 1/21/10. I was present at that meeting.

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Thank you, I would like to thank Chairwoman Haley, Council liaison Newman and the entire board for inviting us here tonight to discuss how in partnership this Board and the Freehold Landlord Association of New Jersey can address the concerns of property owners, landlords, and residents for mutual benefit.
First I would like to introduce to the Board Andrew Keily, whom many of you know and have heard from at past meetings, Andy is downtown businessman, Chairman of the Board of the Freehold Landlord Association of New Jersey and owner of Keily Properties which owns a number of units in the Borough and manages over sixty (60) units for property owners. Andy lived in the borough while growing up, in fact he lived in the building I presently live in on Broad Street, he and presently resides in the Township, Andy is also an active member of the Freehold Center Partnership.
I would also like to introduce Christopher Lopresti, who will be speaking on behalf of the Freehold Landlord Association of New Jersey tonight. Chris is a Board Member and Co-Founder of the Freehold Landlord Association of New Jersey, Chris is a property owner and landlord of six (6) units in the Borough and is in contract to purchase two (2) more units.
My family has worked and owned property in the Borough since the late 60’s. One of the hats I currently wear is as property manager for One Broad Street, LLC and Three Broad Street, LLC, I also currently serve on the Board of Directors for both the Freehold Landlord Association of New Jersey and the Freehold Center Partnership and as I mention earlier I have a residence on Broad Street.
The Freehold Landlord Association of New Jersey was formed as Chris will explain in more detail as a result of the most recently enacted rental regulations particularly the 300% increase in the registration fee. As a result the membership along with advice from experts in regulatory affairs have identified a number of key ways in which the current ordinance can be improved upon in a way that will better address the concerns that the ordinance was drafted to address, in a way that reduces some of the more onerous burdens caused by the ordinance in its current form.
The goal of the Freehold Landlord Association of New Jersey in the short term is to work with this Board and the Borough officials to construct an ordnance that will promote compliance to the benefit of property owners, residents, and landlords. Our long term goal is to work with this Board and the Borough to be a positive force in the Borough in terms of addressing issues that impact property owners, residents, and landlords as they arise.
We can all agree that overcrowding, poor maintenance, and unkempt properties, are bad for the Borough and that all of us have an interest in ensuring that issues of this nature are address properly. Property owners who allow overcrowding, who fail to provide adequate maintenance, and allow their properties to be unkempt; hurt not only the residents, but also all other property owners and landlords who do not overcrowd, and who do spend the necessary funds to provide proper maintenance, and exterior upkeep. Properties with these issues reduce property values for all property owners; this particularly affects landlords by reducing the rental rates of all units and for all landlords in the Borough. Properties with these issues also put landlords who do spend the necessary maintenance funds at a financial disadvantage as property owners who do not spend the necessary maintenance costs have lower overhead expenses and can therefore rent at even lower rates undercutting responsible landlords further reducing rental rates. Overcrowding particularly hurts landlords because if there are 8 people in a 4 person apartment that means that there is an empty apartment that should be occupied and producing rental payments.
I can say that we have common cause with this Board and the Borough to eliminate these problems the best we can and we hope that through this process we can work together to protect the investments we all have in the Borough.
To that end I believe it would be helpful to suggest to this Board to do fact-finding to determine where and to whom the overcrowding, poor maintenance, and poor exterior upkeep violations are being given to by code enforcement. Are these violations occurring in multi-family homes, apartment complexes, condo units, or single family homes?
Property owners and landlord provide important and necessary services to Borough residents, to penalize this important group of property owners and businesspeople because of the actions of a few bad actors will not solve the problem it will only serve to reduce the ability of compliant property owners and landlords to improve services to their tenants.
It must be pointed out that these same issues can be found in non-rental residences and that whether a rental property residence or non rental residence overcrowding, poor maintenance and poor exterior upkeep hurt all residents and property owners and must be enforced equally whether rental or non rental.
Finally before I turn this over to Chris I would like to point out that some of the issues that Chris is going to touch upon are based on State, and Federal laws, as well as State and Federal Constitutional rights. These more legal technical issues are not within our expertise and our legal counsel has been in contact with the Borough Attorney to better address those more technically legal issues. I have no doubt that the Council liaison, Borough attorney and our council can give us guidance going forward on how those issues are being addressed and best resolved.
Again I want to thank you for the opportunity for us to address this board and I hope that through this process we can improve the quality of life for all in the borough and look forward to working with this Board to address issue of concern to all of us as they arise in the future. Thank you.

I am going to be clear on a few things. I always try to get the best info that I can for readers. I am NOT advocating on behalf of the points that the FLLA have. I do agree and disagree with various points.

What I am advocating for is open, honest and decent dialog. When the FLLA first formed, they were very tight lipped. At the time, that was a red flag for me. Over time, they have opened up and from what I have seen, have been very consistent in seeking productive and civil dialog with the rental board and borough hall.

I reported earlier about the council meeting. AS I mentioned, the Mayor said that land lords have almost ruined Freehold. While that was a harsh statement, it does reflect the need for constant vigilance in protecting quality of life and making sure that things do not go down hill. As it is, there has been much reported progress pertaining to the rental problems in town. The last thing anybody wants is to go back to a wild west mentality.

I am also reminded of what Councilwoman Shutzer said. The FLLA may not get the answers they want. That is very true and she is correct. However, after nine months, the frustration that the FLLA has due to a lack of answers is very understandable. That is more than enough time where we should see answers from borough hall and then the FLLA can go from there.

I have always said that the rental issues have got to take all parties into consideration. The concerns and the formation of the FLLA should not be a surprise. I have always taken the stance of a home owner, one who wants to protect neighborhoods from be degraded from outside interests. I know many people who will share those same valid concerns. But, all sides do have to be heard.

With that said, the FLLA does deserve to be heard, they deserve answers in a reasonable time and all of that dialog must be out in the open in a civil, honest and decent way. We ALL have an interest at stake here. We should all be witness to these issues and we should all have an input. Taking that into consideration, it makes me wonder why the FLLA issues were taken out of the hands of the rental board- where this belongs.

Now for the tough part. I always have my ear to the ground in this town. The following is word on the street sort of stuff where I have to be careful.

There appears to be a pattern developing. Some things are getting nasty behind the scenes. I understand that a very prominent person may have gone to members of the FCP and thrashed the landlord group, allegedly accusing them of being liars who are looking to hurt the town. From what I understand, the fire department may have dealt with similar things from that same prominent person when dealing with the dispatch issues. That could explain some of the fire we saw from the FD. What I am hearing really hits home because it is all very close to what I went through last year and never deserved.

All of this drives home the point I make, this town has a real problem with open and honest dialog. I point that finger in many, many directions. There are discussions that have to take place and I will sound like a broken record, in a civil, decent, open and honest way. I bothers me that so many are afraid of that. I may not agree with everything the FLLA wants, but I do give them credit for they way they have been conducting themselves. More people should follow that lead.

Brian I just have to respond to this. and the more people in power that see it the happier I will be., Brian you know me and therefore know the love of my life is gardening in my backyard. I moved into this house 15 years ago BECAUSE of the yard!! My property happens to be very deep but very narrow which as far as the depth is extremely hard to find in the boro. The fact that I'm so close to my next door neighbors never bothered me in the past since I enjoyed neighbors on both sides that both me and my husband got along extremely well with. I have always enjoyed all the neighbors on my block until very recently when both houses on either side of me were purchased as rental property's. Since than I've had nothing but consistent nightmares with both. On the one side, the owner does not maintain his property. Oh the front looks good but if you stroll into my backyard to take a look next door it looks like an overgrown forest or a natural, wild habitat with 3 junk cars in the midst of the mess.

This past spring I lost a few trees, two of which fell into that yard. Trying to be a good neighbor when it happened I went next door to tell the present tenant to please tell his landlord that we would make sure the trees were cleaned up as soon as possible. Which actually took both me and my husband about 2 weeks to accomplish, trying to get around the junk cars, overgrown weeds and the deer feces was not a fun task and did make the job a bit more difficult, but we got it done!! Now I have a very landscaped yard with most of my plants running the perimeter of the property. On that particular side I have mostly Lilac trees, English Ivy and Hostas. After the tree cleaning I than went to do the normal maintenance I do every year in cleaning out the weeds from in between my Lilacs and Ivy. I was horrified to find my Lilacs literally overrun with poison Ivy coming from the next door yard, with leaves that are over 4 inches across. Now being extremely allergic to poison Ivy there was no way I could pull it out myself and anything that kills poison Ivy also happens to kill Lilac and English Ivy, so it has to be done by hand. Again I went next door this time very Irate telling the tenant (who I do get along with) That if his landlord didn't come down and clear out the weeds I planned to take some round-up to his property.
The Landlord was there in about 20 minutes. In my eyes, did a cursory clean up of that area but actually never even touched the poison Ivy. I was conversing with him at first again trying to explain how allergic to poison Ivy I am, how my dogs bring it into me and how the wild honeysuckle that I'm constantly pulling out on my property, is growing from his property up my trees and killing them. He seemed to be more interested in were the property line was and in telling me that part of his property was actually mine! And he had no poison Ivy on his property. I guess he was to busy worrying about what's actually his as versus mine to notice the poison Ivy growing up the side of his garage which was about 5 feet away from where we were both standing and about three feet from my lilac tree. I finally got aggravated when I was accused of being nasty to him. In that case he doesn't know what nasty is!!! I was actually trying to be very nice knowing he doesn't know the difference between a weed and a tree! From the day he moved in... me being an idiot has been trying to show him the difference. At this point I know he honestly doesn't care either way.
Obviously with his attitude and even mine by now! This problem still has not been resolved.

Brian My garden and my property takes an awful lot of money and work to maintain. You know I'm very happy with the work. It's not work to me. It's my Solace. The one thing in my life that truly sooths my soul and my mind and makes me feel like I'm giving back to the environment I so love. I know most of the people on my block feel the same way with their well kept yards and pretty houses. Where are our rights? With neighbors that actually LIVE here? Neighbors that actually have to share space and look at each others property everyday? Neighbors that have pride in what they look like to the outside world. This block like so many in Freehold boro has always been beautiful to look at. Well not so much anymore. I never expected to purchase a house to have to deal with slumlord neighbors. But that's what I'm really starting to feel like.

Now on the other side of me.......... That house had actually been vacant for a few years in foreclosure when I was actually happy to find that someone had purchased it. I initially was not to excited when I found out it was another person planning to rent it out. Until I saw the work being done. He pretty much gutted the house and rebuilt it. Now I won't get into the fact that most of the work was done on Saturdays and Sundays. That's another issue! The property I do have to say looks good and finally looks like it belongs on this street. I was fine with everything he had done until about a week ago. When again on a weekend night I heard a large truck pull up next door to offload a backhoe. I watched as they got out and started to dig up the earth next to the telephone pole at the foot of my driveway. It took me awhile to figure out they were digging the ground up to install wiring from the pole to the house. Now normally I wouldn't care, but that particular pole has a large transformer on it and has for years been leaning slightly into the street. It also happens to be the first place the electric company comes too if theirs a problem on this block with the electric power! All I could think as I watched them dig a five foot hole into the ground on the opposite side to which it's leaning, was it going to fall?
Now that was bad enough, keeping in mind this pole is just about at the property line and I happen to have a HUGE maple tree within 10 feet of that pole. I watched as they kept digging up dirt along with the roots to my tree. More roots and more roots and more roots probably about twenty feet worth. Now who cares about the pole? I'm worried about my tree!
I'm wondering if they had a permit for this work from the town? I never saw an electric or telephone company truck. That one pole is the pole my house is attached to for all of it's power. I'm just wondering now how long both my tree and that pole will last? And if the town knew about this clandestine work.

I have no idea who this new landlord is all I do happen to know is that he owns a number of rentals in freehold boro and he is an LLC. I have no way of contacting him when I can't even find out his name.
Like I said I've lived in this house for 15 years, what are my rights? I already had problems with that tree with branches I need to trim that are growing between the electric wires. That's MY problem not the towns. The plan was to hire someone to have a number of the branches trimmed out. But how many times can you assault a tree from top to bottom before you actually kill it? It would have been nice if this landlord at least informed me prior to what he planned to do. But I guess considering the truck didn't get her till after 7PM he really didn't want anyone to know anyway.

As far as the basic issues the FLLA has:

1. Vicarious liability-ticketing landlord for tenant act. 2. Night time inspections without probable cause or a warrant.

If they can do work on their property at night then I would say that gives us the right to have inspections done. I wish there had been someone I could call when I saw the work being done but I knew all offices were closed.

3. The fee increase.
I can understand a resentment with an increase in fees but why not make it an incentive.? if they keep their properties maintained and live within the laws give them their money back at the end of the year. Maybe if their smart they'll take that money and reinvest it into the property!

4. The public list of names and addresses of landlords on boro website like sex offenders.

That I agree with wholeheartedly! The above explains why. The name of my new next door neighbor seems to be a HUGE secret!!!!!!!!!!!!! Again where are my rights?
They want to sue the town? How many more groups are going to hire big time lawyers to dictate to the people of freehold boro that actually pay taxes how were supposed to live???
Scuse me if I'm being ignorant but I thought it was the job of the Mayor and the Council to protect the residents of Freehold Boro? Not BIG BUSINESS!!! Well I'm a resident that has no plans on going anywhere. Granted landlords should have rights too but NOT if they infringe on the peace and sanctity of residents. I'm sorry but I have a hell of a lot more invested in this town than any landlord. This is MY HOME and MY TOWN!!!! Where is MY Protection against landlords who can do or not do whatever they like? I used to be a tenant years ago. I respected the property when I left, Paid my rent every month on time and couldn't wait to find my own home were I could get away from the temporary living quarters and constantly beholding to someone else. I'm really starting to get ticked at having to deal with this BS again! I've been very happy here. But without town officials that are willing to protect the permanent residents they have and our rights were is this town going? Maybe another Harlem, Camden or Newark? That would really look great for Monmouth county, This being the county seat!

I am so happy that my republican friends on this site have so passionately supported government regulation. I hope we no longer need to argue the need for government regulations relating to cap and trade, health care, financial reform and the thousand upon thousand of other issues which my republican friends say are best served by an unregulated market.
I believe government must set strong regulations for behavior that affects the liberty of another.
I believe the Boro must have very strict regulations relating to this issue but I also think that those regulations should be geared to fixing the problem.
As there were only 11 citations for overcrowding last year I think we can all agree that the current system is not working as we all know that there were more than 11 overcrowded properties last year both retal and owner occupied homes.
I would like to see regulations that punish the irresponsible property owners without punishing the responsible property owners. Right now only the irresponsible property owners benefit from the current system for all the reason I have stated in my public statements.
I agree with a lot of the concersns Lisa has mentioned above, I live, in the Boro, across the street from a building that is ALLWAYS overcorwded and looks like SH*T, which is why we need to have a partnership between responsible property owners/landlords and the Boro so we can focus the attention on irresponsible property owners and fix the problem.

On to Rich.

The FLANJ want regulation with teeth that addresses irresponsible property owners and reasonable licensing fees without punishing responsible landlords for the acts of irresponsible landlords.

Yes they can. If they do the tenant has to pay more and will overcrowd. That proves my point. High fees and vicarious liability encourages the problem to be worse.

As for night time inspections, Would you let a stranger into your home after dark?
If that stranger came with a Police Officer would you let them both in to wander your home with out notice? For me this is principal. No one come in my home unless I am inviting you in/consent or if you have a warrant. I can think of a few founding fathers who would agree.

As for the fee increase if the fee is reasonable we have no problem with it. If it costs $300.00 to file the paperwork for the registration and inspect a property every 3 years than that’s what it cost and that would be reasonable. But if it only cost $150.00 or $100.00 or less that is what the fee should be. Enforcement costs by law can not be include in the registration/license/ inspection fee.

We agree that it should be rationally based on the costs of services rendered that all we want.

What does the public list have to do with enforcement? I don’t get that, code has the list and code does enforcement what purpose other than a scarlet letter does that serve. Now a list of repeat offenders like Red Bank go for it. As I said above we would like that list also.

The dangerously high rental ratio is do to the fact that there are few good high paying jobs in the Boro. We as a town need to focus on bringing in High tech, green tech, bio tech, and pharm jobs to our empty where houses and properties. If we did that more families would be able to take advantage of the proposal by George Schnurr, the live where you work program. It would also bring in higher income renters who would pay more for a nicer place thus economically encouraging some property owners to do better.

I too agree with Councilwoman Schuster. Her job is to serve the best interest of all boro residents and we agree with that and want that. Many tenants have complained to me about the inspections. A majority of our members are long term landlords who do embrace higher standards then are currently in place. We want a uniform lease written with the Boro so no one has an excuse. We want to set up tenant and landlord forums to teach both tenant and landlords to be better neighbors; and we want to bring scorn on those who hurt all of our investments. Responsible landlords however should not be treated like criminals and responsible landlords should not be treated as guilty and have to prove their innocence.

I hope that addresses the comments put forth by Rich.
If you have more please post. I will try and respond to all questions or concerns but please try and first read the above to see if your question or concern is adressed. Thank you

Jeff I agree with most of what you said, maybe not all but most. I do feel like I have more invested in this town knowing I'll probably grow old and hopefully not to feeble in this town and house that I love so well. A business owner does deserve respect but not to the extent that it infringes on me and my life. A business owner doesn't wake up to walk his dog at 5:00 in the morning, Nor sits on his front porch till 10, 11 even 12 o'clock at night. Business or not most of the owners don't live in Freehold boro and therefore I feel like as a homeowner I've invested more. Businesses come and go everywhere not just in the boro. It's one thing to invest money it's another when you plan to spend the rest of your life in a town. But actually that's even besides the point and I thank you for your reply.

It just so happens I did call code enforcement and was told they will be here tomorrow morning, maybe by then I'll have a few questions answered.

As far as letting someone in at night. Jeff I have met and at least if not by name then at least by face know our code enforcement officials. I guess that's again because I live here and care about this town.! That in itself I think says enough, but honestly if they came to my front door for whatever reason at 8:30 on a January night I would (if not let them in) at least have to find out why they were here. lol Knowing me I'd probably get into a long conversation with them about their job and what's going on in town. That again is the beauty of this small town. And explains again how much more I have invested in my home!

I do agree and don't like the fact that those fines do get passed on to the tenants. That's just wrong! Especially in today's economy. I know the cost of rentals only to well, and I just wish that there could be a legal way around allowing them to do that. Maybe some kind of escrow account that when after a year of no complaints, interest accrued they could access the money for the property? Maybe I'm dreaming but it would be nice!

Again Jeff thank-you for your reply it did address my concerns and like I said I may not agree with everything you said, But you also made some valid points.

Jeff I have to completely 100% disagree with that first statement. If I had a code enforcement official come to my front door with a police officer I would honestly HAVE to let them in!!!! Excuse me if you think I'm wrong but I think I have enough respect for our Police officers to know at that point there was a serious problem and if not so much for the code enforcement officer. Any policeman in my town that has proper credentials is enough for me to know those problems need to immediately be addressed!
Again maybe again this attitude just portrays what I have invested in Freehold Boro?

As for the fee? Jeff when I purchased this house there were many things I had to pay for. Inspections fees and everything else it entailed. $300.00 was nothing at that point! even $500.00 to $1000.00 I probably wouldn't have thought much of. If a homeowner needs to pay fees to the town for inspections or any other fees than why not landlords?

As for this Idea?
"The dangerously high rental ratio is due to the fact that there are few good high paying jobs in the Boro. We as a town need to focus on bringing in High tech, green tech, bio tech, and pharm jobs to our empty where houses and properties."

Oh jeese! I had a conversation with a friend just last night about this exact subject and the more I think about it the more I actually HATE IT!!!!!!!!!

Jeff I purchased my house in this town being fully aware of everything this town is! A small quiet town that has relaxing restaurants, little stores you can browse on a nice summer or spring day. A place you can relax in! A Place to LIVE in!
Freehold Boro is NOT a city!!
Your talking about trying to make it into something it isn't and should never be!!!
I have one question for you? Where do you expect all these employees to park their cars? In the places that freehold residents have to fight for now? How do you plan to accommodate all this new traffic? Has anyone thought that out yet? Or much less even considered the fact? Has anyone thought about the fact that doing this will strain our Police force even more than it already is? I think we have enough problems in this small town rather than bringing in more business when we can't even maintain and handle some of the problems we already have!!
You talk about Red Bank? The difference between Freehold and Red Bank, number 1 is size. They have parking!!!! They have places for high tech businesses. Jeff I lived in Red Bank! In fact I was looking to purchase a house there before I found this one. Freehold boro is the next best thing to Red Bank but it is NOT and will never be Red Bank!!!

Whoever came up with this idea has no idea what Freehold is. And putting it as nice as I possibly can this is the most misguided, unthought-out plan I've heard so far. We happen to live in a town that actually has a wonderful personality in it's own right! Why not work on and enhance what we already have instead of trying to change it into something it can never possibly be? You can't make a small town into a bustling city and keep it's residents. Or maybe that's what the idea is behind this plan?

I wish I could take advantage of the live where you work idea but on the other hand I don't know if I'd like that situation anyway. I think it's great for anyone that can. But ya know........ I don't really think it's that important either. What's important to me is we try to keep this town and it's present small town persona the way it is! That to me is more important for the place I want to live!!!
Their aren't many towns like Freehold boro left in this state. We have something here, despite our problems that is EXTREMELY hard to find anymore. Why can't our officials recognize that fact and fix the problems rather than try to make new ones?
I'm thinking of an old expression that fits this plan...........
That being "The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence until you get there"!! Seems to me someones Not thinking this idea out!

Jeff I had absolutely no intention of Insulting you. If I did? I truly apologize. It was not meant to at all. If my passion about this town comes off that way. I don't mean it personally. I can understand you may be trying to come up with some ideas to make this town work. But please remember. In 1966 this world and town was a much different place. This is a very small town that has set borders and only so much space for people to actually live. I understand you would like to attract more of the type of homeowner that can afford to live in one of the houses rather than rent it out. But with for example the parking? I just don't see how it would work. We both know their is a parking problem been going on and getting worse for awhile and my point was until that problem is addressed and rectified no one is going to want to work in a place where they can't have their car available to them. In that case my feelings are we need to take example from Red Bank where they built the 3 story parking garage. They also charge a nominal fee for parking. I believe if we did also? It would at least partially aleve some of our problem.

I agree with alot of this. Parking is the number one issue and a garage is necessary. I would suggest that if we brought in jobs to those empty factories and vacant lots of the people who moved here for the jobs would walk to work. This issue could be its own thread.

Now back to the issue of this thread.

The first question is - what is the goal?
I would suggest the goal is to promote compliance among all property owners and residents relating to property maintenance and health and safety requirements.

The second question is- Is the current system working?
I say no for all the reasons above and the fact that the place across from me has been overcrowded for years, and Lisa has a junkyard next to her and I can point to a number of properties both rental and owner occupied that have the same issues.

The third question is -Do we believe in the Constitution?
I would say yes.

The fourth question is- Do we believe that an individual is responsible for their own actions?
I would say yes.

The fifth question is- Should fees be based on the actual cost of the service provided?
State law says yes

If we agree on the answers to these questions then I think we are on the same page. Then the question is how do we best address the problems in a way that respects everyones rights in a neighborly way.

Mike,
I would think the business owners building it would pay for it? In fact the same discussion is currently taking place over the Market yard redo. I have suggested that the businesses that abut the lot, along with the owners of the lot should pay. So not only do I agree with you on that point I have argued the same position.

But that is not the topic of this thread. We should discuss this on a different board. PS- A parking garage will not ever directly benefit my family's properties as we have our own lot with 40+ parking spaces.

Lisa wrote:

Jeff I purchased my house in this town being fully aware of everything this town is! A small quiet town that has relaxing restaurants, little stores you can browse on a nice summer or spring day. A place you can relax in! A Place to LIVE in!
Freehold Boro is NOT a city!!

I am going way off topic here, but that statement popped out. I agree one hundred percent. I too want to maintain the small town charm and not emulate an urban feel in this town. AS it is, we have too many urban traits that are not good- overcrowded schools, overcrowded homes, beggars on corners, higher than acceptable crime, and much more. Who really wants that? I do not like cities and the more city like this town becomes, the more I will want out.

Lisa, I will post something separate under Main Street that you will like.

Yes off topic indeed, I have never disputed Lisa above statement and agree. I agree with Brian's statement above as well but what I really like about the boro in this regard is how we have that small town charm and the layout that allowes people to walk around like a "city" very small c, where you don't need a car every day as in the township or Howell, farmingdale, and I could go on and on. The balance between a vibrant downtown, the beautiful homes, the connectedness of the community is what makes Freehold different than all of the surrounding towns and a great place to live. Now so Lisa can contine her shoping stroll we need more shops.

Thank you Rich.

I agree with everything you said except the net effect of the strict liability provisions as you later indicate a bad tenant is hard to get out. That issues would be less of an issue if we had a system that worked. ie. punish irresponsible property owners and not punish responsible property owners.

I will also say as a point of clarification. I have been told that the boro does post somewhere the names of the streets they will be inspecting in a given week or month. I don't know where, I presume the paper, but I conceder that type of notice sub standard for this issue. Few read the notice section of papers.

I would point out that I agree that landlords names publicly attached to violations is good. I support that. I object to all landlords name and addresses being on the website that do not have violations.

Rich's point regarding the tangle of Federal, State, and local regulations creating a very difficult mess for even the best landlord to wade through is or critical importance for all to realize. Only by working together can these issues be solved for the benifet of all. Those tangled regulations is what lead my family to sell their residential rental properties in the early to mid 1990's. Getting a bad tenant out is very hard. Getting a bad tenant out that does not care about fines or neighbors is a disaster on every level. But even if all tenants were responsible we still need to address irresponsible property owners without punishing responsible property owners.

Jeff In that case maybe this town should seriously consider hiring retired police officers for part time code enforcement. I think even giving them a uniform so theirs no misunderstanding as to who they are, might be a good idea.