Code Attorney

Large cities need to be strategic in how they use limited resources to target distressed properties. The IndyStar reports that Indianapolis has decided to concentrate its efforts by filing lawsuits against landlords who own multiple properties with high crime rates. The Fire Department said there were 90 arson fires in vacant buildings last year many set by homeless people seeking to keep warm. The local prosecutor handling the cases said that:

….. the city cross-referenced building code violations with high crime rates to prioritize which buildings and landlords to sue. Officials said rundown and unkempt buildings encourage crime.

This is a smart strategy and is most likely to lead to a decrease in crime. It’s one of the points I discuss at length when I teach my course on How Code Enforcement Effects Police Operations.

College towns and code violations go together like students and text books.  Students seek cheap housing and are willing to live in terrible conditions if the price is right.  Some landlords take advantage of this by not maintaining their buildings and others are fearful of the damage student tenants cause and are reluctant to spend money on upkeep because of that.  Inspectors are usually pretty busy in areas where there are colleges and universities.  A tragedy was averted when a fraternity house was shut down by the Troy Fire Department in New York after deadly levels of carbon monoxide were found.  The fire department and the fraternity house are working to fix the problems before the students return. It’s imperative that college towns have an effective rental inspection program to make sure the housing meets minimum safety standards. A faithful reader points out additional fires in student rental housing in Bellingham on his website at http://www.zonemaven.blogspot.com/ I wish him luck on his attempt to get the local government to adopt such a program. Landlords will always object to the implementation of such an ordinance but the price in lives is too high not to have one.

If a local jurisdiction doesn’t have an effective enforcement system, whether it’s in court or at an administrative level, there will be no incentive for bad landlords to fix up their properties.  There can be a lot of flaws in the system, prosecutors who aren’t aggressive enough, political pressure, courts that are overburdened with a variety of cases, or just an ineffective process for collecting fines.  In Brooklyn, a landlord has amassed 8,000 violations but it has not resulted in an improvement in the buildings.  Attempts to remedy the enforcement process at the state level results in heavy lobbying by special interests to prevent change.  The tenants are the ones who suffer because they don’t have the lobbying power that those with polictical clout have.

There have been too many deadly fires this past week and the one factor they have in common is that each of the buildings had preexisting code violations.  The fire in Chicago in which 2 firefighters died after a building collapsed demonstrated the hazard of vacant buildings. Eight squatters died in a fire in New Orleans in a building that had been cited for structural violations in 2007. In Yonkers, N.Y. a man died in a residence that had been illegally converted into multiple dwellings, including a basement apartment. It was reported at LoHud.com that:

The day after the fire, city inspectors visited the property and issued four summonses against the Walshes for illegally converting their basement into an apartment, illegally using the first floor of their two-family home as a boarding house and blocking fire exits, among other violations.

Owners often get angry at building and housing code inspectors because they feel the inspectors are interfering with their ability to use their property as they desire and because compliance with the code costs them money.  Tragedies like these demonstrate why we have codes and why strict enforcement is necessary.

Without commenting on the viewpoint of the creator, here’s a video of some interesting construction, like the house with a fire plug blocking the driveway:

Citizens who normally couldn’t gain the attention of anyone when they can’t get the attention of their representatives can go directly to the public by making their own films and posting them on You Tube.

It’s been so sad reading about the 2 firefighters who died in Chicago when the roof of a boarded up building collapsed on Wednesday.  The owner had been cited for numerous code violations in 2007, especially for the roof.  The building was boarded up but squatters kept breaking in.  The firefighters were inside the building checking for people when this happened.  The reason for the collapse of the roof has not yet been determined.  Too many of these neglected buildings present a hazard for emergency responders. Owners claim they don’t have enough money to fix the buildings and it can take years for the courts to order them demolished.  I know I keep preaching to the choir but these buildings don’t get in this type of shape overnight.  Minor violations need to be addressed before they become big ones.  It cost less to keep a property up than it does to bring it back from the abyss of deterioration.

It’s that time of year when tenants are shivering in apartments because the heat does not reach the temperature required by the code.  When an inspector has such a case, It’s important to correctly measure the temperature so that the case stands up in court.  If you are using the 2009 International Property Maintenance code, you must follow Section 602.5 which states that

“The required room temperatures shall be measured 3 feet (914 mm) above the floor near the center of the room and 2 feet (610 mm) inward from the center of each exterior wall.”

Because of the word “shall”, it is mandatory and temperatures not taken this way may be inadmissible as evidence.  A landlord in Brownsville, PA is facing fines of $200 to $1000 per day because of a lack of heat in an apartment building.  That will usually encourage compliance but for the tenants who have to wait for the repairs to be completed, it’s never soon enough.

Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree

In keeping with the season, I am republishing a picture of my favorite Christmas tree violation from last year.

There’s a very descriptive article about the worst bathroom in New York City at http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/the-worst-bathroom-in-new-york/

Justin said that a pipe had burst last January, gushing enough scalding water to turn the bathroom into a mold-filled, 24-hour steam room. Water damage had wrecked the floors. They were so rotted that you could dip your arm up to your elbow into the floorboard below the toilet. Meanwhile, huge chunks of the ceiling were missing, and you could see into the rafters above. I thought about Justin getting ready for school in the mornings. How did he take a shower?

It’s a sad reminder that without vigorous code enforcement, buildings deteriorate and people suffer.  To think that a family would be better off in a shelter than in one of these buildings is tragic.  Housing inspectors who make life better for people who are tenants should be proud of the work they do.

Having the support of the judiciary is critical in obtaining compliance.  I’ve been very fortunate in my career to have judges who really understand how important code enforcement is in maintaining communities.  Usually when a judge is new, he or she knows little about code enforcement (it is a very narrow area of the law).  I view my role as trying to  educate them on the issues and the law as I prosecute my cases.  Once they see that the inspectors and I are trying to fairly enforce the code for the good of the neighborhood, they are usually supportive and listen closely to my recommendations.  Recently, a judge in Ohio chastized a violator, fining a corporation $129,000 for property maintenance violations in an apartment complex.  http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/crime/complex-hit-with-129-000complex-hit-with-129-000-in-fines-1023227.html The judge said

“I’m embarrassed and ashamed these conditions exist in the city of Fairfield … We build housing in Haiti, in Africa, but in my own backyard, we have people living in filth. It’s disgraceful and it makes me sad that the working poor don’t have a better place to live.”

Too often it is the working poor who suffer when landlords don’t keep up their property.  Judges play a crucial role in righting this wrong.