Landlords blamed for blight not always the cause

Feb. 2, 2012 - PRLog -- Blighted properties have been the scourge of neighborhood residents and community activists for years, but recently the city of New Britain Connecticut is moving aggressively to resolve the problem.

An article published in the New Britain herald on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 by Robert  Storace starts out , An anti-blight ordinance that increases fines for violators and puts more teeth in the current ordinance was approved unanimously by the Common Council Wednesday.

“We will be aggressively addressing the most blighted of properties,” Mayor Timothy O’Brien said prior to the vote.

Strengthening the city’s blight ordinance was one of the central issues of O’Brien’s mayoral campaign. He said the new city law, which takes effect immediately, increases fines from $100 per violation a day to $250 per violation. It should be a deterrent to those who have tried to skirt the law in the past, city leaders said. In many cases, officials said, there are numerous violations on a property. The daily fines could exceed $1,000 a day. In addition, the ordinance puts the city in the position to take possession of the most egregious abandoned and blighted properties, if owners don’t fix the violations or pay the fines.

“This (new law) makes sure that if you are a slumlord, you aren’t welcome here,” Mayor Pro Tem Michael Trueworthy said Wednesday. “It tells violators that they will get fined. It tells those owners to clean up their properties.”

The new law and use of the term “Slumlord” did not go unnoticed for long and resulted in a stiff response by a statewide property owners group. A follow-up story appeared in the New Britain Herald on January 30, 2012

Robert J. DeCosmo, president of the Waterbury-based Connecticut Property Owners Alliance, http://www.ctpoa.com said he received e-mails and calls from New Britain property owners concerned that the law singled them out while not addressing damage caused by tenants.

While city leaders said the ordinance had “bite,” many landlords thought the bite was misdirected and should instead take aim at those who destroy their property.

The two sides took a step toward reconciling matters on January 30, 2012 when DeCosmo met with Mayor Timothy O’Brien.

“Any new policy must have balance,” DeCosmo said after the one-hour meeting with O’Brien in City Hall. “I really got the sense that the mayor understands our concerns. We’ve agreed to continue meeting on an ongoing basis.”

The goal of Monday’s sit-down was to make the anti-blight ordinance even-handed.

“Everyone, landlords and tenants, must be a part of the solution,” said DeCosmo, who noted that his 150-member group will hold a public meeting on February 2 at 5:30 p.m. at the Belvedere Restaurant at 82 Broad St.

“I am convinced that the blight issues in New Britain are not insurmountable and can be addressed,” he said. De Cosmo wants destructive tenant to be equally targeted in the campaign to clean up New Britain and his request is being considered.

O’Brien said the city will better enforce a 1996 state law, which DeCosmo’s group helped put in place that targets tenant abuse.

“There are existing laws that we will now be strongly enforcing,” O’Brien said Monday. “There are legitimate concerns being raised by landlords. If, for example, a tenant causes $20,000 worth of damage in an apartment by breaking windows, he will be arrested and held accountable. Although the landlord would be responsible for replacing the windows.”

“Just as we will not tolerate property owners that maintain blighted properties, we will not tolerate tenants that do large amounts of damage to apartments they rent,” O’Brien said.

Some highlights of the new ordinance are; Violations to increase from $100 per violation a day to $250 per violation a day. Violations include the following:
•   collapsing or missing walls, floors or roof; vermin infestation
•   exterior paint that is significantly chipped or faded
•   interior furniture left outside, exposed to the elements
•   uncut grass, weeds or overgrowth at least one-foot in length
•   clothing left hanging from trees, scrubs or fences in front yard of any residence
•   screening which contains tears or ragged edges
•   dead trees deemed hazardous to the public or to adjacent property.

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The CT Property Owners Alliance provides educational seminars, offers discounted prices on essential real estate services and supplies resources such as tenant screening, free property management forms and a landlord’s collection agency for its members.