‘Scofflaw’ landlord list sought
Some city councilors are looking at creating a “scofflaw property owner list” in an effort to rein in any misbehaving landlords.
The proposal from City Councilors Liz Breadon and Ruthzee Louijeune would target “rental property owners who continually fail to comply with the City’s rental unit regulations and provide tenants with safe and adequate housing,” according to the filing that’s set to be introduced at Wednesday’s council meeting.
The idea is to disincentivize bad behavior by publishing an annual “scofflaw” list and also by preventing anyone on it from doing business with the city until they get their act together.
“For too long, negligent landlords and owners who refuse to clean up their properties have been getting nothing more than a slap on the wrist,” City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune said in a statement. “This ordinance will give our neighborhoods stronger protections and enforcement mechanisms against these chronic offenders.”
What is a scofflaw? Under the ordinance change as proposed, it’s any property owner whose rental units have received a combined six or more code violations in the past year, or who owns any rent unit on the already existing “problem property” list that the city maintains or has any rental unit that the city’s currently taking any codes enforcement action regarding.
Any one of those conditions gets you on the list as a landlord.
This is different from the aforementioned “problem property” list, which is directed at specific buildings or lots rather than an individual who might own multiple properties.
Under this proposal, which will be introduced Wednesday and set for a hearing at a later date, the city would create an annual list that it would make public of all so-called scofflaws. The law notes that anyone who fixes all the problems remains on the list until the next year’s version comes out.
The list would have the name of the “scofflaw owner,” that person’s address, a list of all properties they own, the number of code violations against their units and all active housing court cases they’re involved in.
The rule would also cut anyone on the list off from being able to “do business” with the city, including receiving grants or financial assistance from it or having any applications approved that need zoning relief.