Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012
Raleigh seeks to protect landlord penalty system
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closeBoxed in by a new state law, the city is taking steps to remake a program for monitoring problem landlords.
Seven years ago, at the urging of neighbors fed up with loud parties and messy yards at student rental housing, the city devised a penalty system to hold landlords accountable for maintenance issues and tenant behavior.
Rental properties are put on probation, and owners are required to obtain special permits to keep renting, if properties are cited too many times for late-night noise and code violations such as junk-filled yards, overgrown bushes and bare wiring.
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Plan to limit front-yard parking A proposal to limit front-yard parking is again making its way through city hall, but the measure has been scaled back to focus on neighborhoods filled with student rental housing near N.C. State University. That’s where the problem is most severe, says City Council member Thomas Crowder, who represents the area. Neighbors have prodded the city for years to crack down on front-yard parking. They call it an eyesore. Under the rules, landlords would have to install pavement or put down gravel with defined borders. Rather than a citywide ban, the new policy calls for establishing an overlay district in southwest Raleigh near the university campus. Barring delays, the City Council will hold a public hearing in April. The city will send mailings to an estimated 25,000 property owners who would be affected by the proposal.
A reasonable solution? Maybe for neighbors. But not in the view of apartment and rental owners – especially owners who complained about having to pay fees even if they never committed any violations.
Last year, the apartment and real estate industries convinced the Republican-controlled state legislature to pass a bill limiting the city’s ability to charge registration fees associated with the program. Supporters called it a way to ease the burden on businesses.
The city used the fees to maintain a database of more than 70,000 rental units across the city.
But Raleigh officials haven’t given up. With guidance from City Attorney Tom McCormick, they’re working to identify new ways to keep the program viable.
The city proposes stepping up fees for repeat offenders and also adding items to the list of eligible offenses. Owners would be held accountable if tenants are convicted for drug-related activity, disorderly conduct or underage drinking, among other things.
A City Council committee got a first look at the changes last week and agreed to give them further review.
Representatives for the apartment industry say they are watching closely.
“The landlords are the bad guys, in the eyes of some, but they may be reasonable housing providers operating in challenging environments,” Ken Szymanski, director of the Apartment Association of North Carolina, said in an email.
Szymanski added: “The ‘offenders’ may have the least ability to pay. If this program is a compelling public purpose, have it be paid for out of property tax revenues, not user fees.”
Making ‘bad people’ pay
Currently, 11 properties are on probationary status, with 10 resulting from inspections problems and one because of criminal activity.
With the proposed changes, those numbers are projected to increase by 300 percent from inspections violations and 700 percent because of crime.
McCormick said rental owners who didn’t like paying fees through the old system ought to appreciate the new approach.
“Their constant argument was that we’re punishing innocent people by collecting this money; the bad people should be the ones who pay,” McCormick said. “What we’ve tried to do is make it easier to be a bad person.”
The program gives police and code inspectors more clout than just the ability to hand out citations, said Phil Poe, co-chairman of the Five Points CAC.
“Under the old system, people just sort of accepted the fine as a cost of doing business,” Poe said. “People now recognize there can be some consequences.”
The registration system previously brought in $1 million per year to pay for the city’s supervision efforts. But that figure will decrease to $200,000 as a result of the state-mandated changes.
Ashley Glover, a senior housing inspector for the city, said the tougher penalties will cause landlords to take notice.
“It’ll probably help,” he said. “I (already) see the apartment complexes pushing to get the bad tenants out, trying to replace them with better tenants.”
‘In full support’
City Council member Thomas Crowder was one of the driving forces behind creating PROP in the mid-2000s. Crowder represents southwest Raleigh, home to neighborhoods around N.C. State University filled with student rental housing.
“I’m in full support of where we’re heading,” he said. “This has been a great program up until the legs were cut out from under it by the General Assembly. I think we saw outstanding progress.”
