Leaders of the Property Owners & Managers Association (POMA) of Evansville agree with a proposed city ordinance’s goals of less crime and better communication between landlords and law enforcement.
But they say such goals can be achieved in other ways, and they plan to speak against adoption of the ordinance at today’s called meeting of the Evansville City Council. It begins at 5:25 p.m. in Room 301 of the Civic Center.
Evansville Police Chief Billy Bolin said this morning that the license fee, originally $50, has been sliced to $10.
Karan Woods, treasurer of POMA, said on Tuesday that the $50 fee originally in the license "is simply a tax. We don’t get anything for it. There’s no set of standards. It’s basically, we pay a fee, and they get contact information, and contact information is dynamic. There’s no value from a landlord’s perspective.”
POMA President Monte Fetter said the ordinance was crafted without input from landlords. He and Woods said POMA has long advocated a voluntary licensure program that would create incentives for property owners to participate.
For instance, they said signing up for the voluntary program would enable property owners to do up to $2,500 worth of remodeling work on their own, without having to obtain a city permit.
“It would basically do the same thing as the registry they are pushing now,” Woods said. “That’s an opportunity for the city to make some money and the landlords to get something in return.”
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Police say their proposal is a tool to bring accountability to absentee landlords — those who live outside the region and can’t be found by tenants or authorities.
“The ordinance is not because we don’t have any good landlords. But there is a big problem with landlords and rental companies that aren’t from here,” said Sgt. Jason Cullum, an Evansville Police Department spokesman. “We can go to them and write a code violation and put a flag in their yard. But it’s a very tough fight to get things taken care of when we don’t have anyone to assist us.”
Local, responsible landlords “probably feel they are being lumped into the same basket” as those who live elsewhere and neglect their properties, Cullum said. But police don’t believe a fee for a license is unreasonable, since fees already are required to operate numerous types of businesses.
Revenue from the fee would go toward a training initiative for landlords touching on crime prevention, safety and legal issues.
Police say they have built support for the measure at the neighborhood level, where several renters are neglected by their missing landlords.
Leaders of POMA respond that a voluntary registry, with incentives to join, is a better solution. Woods said the group had been working with the City-County Building Commission on a program, but that process “seems to have gotten stalled” because of the city police department’s push for a mandatory license program.
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Although Evansville Police Department has worked for months to develop their program, they pushed for quick action this week by City Council because of a move by the General Assembly to restrict such local ordinances effecting property owners.
If the moratorium clears both houses of the legislature, it would take effect on Thursday, City Council Attorney Scott Danks said.
But he said Evansville would not be impacted by the state’s action if City Council passes its own measure today.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/feb/26/no-headline---landlords/
See for example House Bill 1313
http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2013&session=1&request=getBill&doctype=HB&docno=1313
See for example House Bill 1313
DIGEST OF HB 1313 (Updated February 25, 2013 6:22 pm - DI 84)
Regulation of residential leases. Provides that a political subdivision may not adopt a regulation after February 28, 2013 relating to landlord and tenant relations, rental agreements, or real property subject to a rental agreement that: (1) requires an owner or landlord to be licensed or to obtain a permit from the political subdivision to lease a rental unit; (2) requires an owner or landlord to enroll or participate in a class or government program as a condition for leasing a rental unit; or (3) imposes a fee or other assessment for inspection of a rental unit, registration of an owner, landlord, or rental unit, or for any other purpose other than a fee relating to the construction of a rental unit, such as a building permit fee. Provides that this prohibition expires July 1, 2014. Urges the legislative council to assign the topic of regulation of residential leases by political subdivisions to a study committee during the 2013 legislative interim. |
http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2013&session=1&request=getBill&doctype=HB&docno=1313
