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Posted by Chelsea on September 24, 2000 at 17:23:09:

BC-PA--Apartment Regulations
Scranton takes aim at absentee landlords, bad tenants
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - A city department is pushing a proposal that would allow rental apartments to be shut down for everything from tenant drug use to the failure of absentee landlords to appoint a local manager.
``People who are responsible landlords have nothing to fear from this ordinance,'' said Community Development Director Mary Alice Burke, who drafted the legislation.
Burke said the ordinance would address the two major problems - landlords who refuse responsibility and tenants whose actions upset the neighborhood.
The ordinance would force landlords with a property containing three or more rental units occupied to register each year. Landlords who live outside of a 20-mile radius of the city would have to appoint a manager as the local contact person.
Rental units could be shut down for up to six months for the following: three or more violations of the ordinance within a six-month period, drug activity, unsafe conditions, failure of an owner to appoint a manager or respond to city notices, or failure to comply with city building codes.
The legislation is currently on hold by the City Council. A similar proposal died in 1999 after protests by landlords.

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: BC-PA--Apartment Regulations
: Scranton takes aim at absentee landlords, bad tenants 
:     SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - A city department is pushing a proposal that would allow rental apartments to be shut down for everything from tenant drug use to the failure of absentee landlords to appoint a local manager.
:     ``People who are responsible landlords have nothing to fear from this ordinance,'' said Community Development Director Mary Alice Burke, who drafted the legislation.
:     Burke said the ordinance would address the two major problems - landlords who refuse responsibility and tenants whose actions upset the neighborhood.
:     The ordinance would force landlords with a property containing three or more rental units occupied to register each year. Landlords who live outside of a 20-mile radius of the city would have to appoint a manager as the local contact person.
:     Rental units could be shut down for up to six months for the following: three or more violations of the ordinance within a six-month period, drug activity, unsafe conditions, failure of an owner to appoint a manager or respond to city notices, or failure to comply with city building codes.
:     The legislation is currently on hold by the City Council. A similar proposal died in 1999 after protests by landlords.


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