Councilman Henon's hearing on Landlords

[Cya]

I'm happy to see Councilman Henon moving forward and addressing these landlords.
The people he was able to get to show up at his city council hearing are local. How about dragging some of the out-of-state absentee landlords into the hearings next time?

Broad Street Media LLC - Landlords come under Council scrutiny

Walsh, who’s been in the business for almost 30 years, owns almost 500 properties in Philadelphia, including 33 in the 6th district. He acknowledged being behind on taxes on as many as 20 properties.

In addition, Walsh has paid some fines for Community Life Improvement Program-issued violations, but he said he takes other notices to Municipal Court and they are routinely dismissed for being unwarranted.

Walsh employs three full-time crews for routine maintenance and to fix problems at his properties.

“Once they get a violation, they’re out there immediately,” he said.

On one occasion, Walsh posed as a tenant in a telephone call to a housing-rights group. He contended that tenants are reminded that they’ll be able to stay put and/or not pay rent as long as there is an outstanding violation.

“It’s an attempt by the tenant to stay in the unit as long as they can,” he said

Hogeland, a Mayfair resident who has been in the business for about three decades, said he and partners operate about 300 homes, including 28 in the 6th Councilmanic District. He suggested that the city hire a liaison for individuals who have large numbers of properties.

I agree with this... the city should have liasons for landlords who own large number of properties.

[nickster]

I read that article and it sounds to me like this "hearing" was a real joke! Two out of the four showed, one is sick and his attorney sent a letter and the other can't be found. It was BS chit chat and then a 'see ya after the summer' when the conversation will be resumed. Seriously? It sounds to me like a free pass for slumlords for the next three months. Walsh is a crybaby, whining when his Section 8 tenants call L&I when he doesn't fix what needs to be fixed. He signed a contract with PHA and gets his rent every month guaranteed, thanks to the taxpayers. Do a better job of screening your tenants, asswipe! There's one of his rentals in my neighborhood that is both a known drug house and a poorly maintained property with a missing storm door.

And, if I'm not mistaken, isn't he the loser who built those prefab homes in Port Richmond a few years back? If so, the last I heard the owners are all suing him!

No frigin' way should a liason be hired to make sure these slumlords maintain their properties. Let the people who are already being paid by the taxpayers step up with stricter enforcement. The city is broke and we don't need to pay some politically-connected hack six figures to babysit slumlords.

[iheartphilly]

My landlord deliberately caused an explosion & gas leak. I have glass in my foot & arm, not to mention a stove that doesn't work. A DA I'm friendly with said this is attempted murder.

[nickster]

My landlord deliberately caused an explosion & gas leak. I have glass in my foot & arm, not to mention a stove that doesn't work. A DA I'm friendly with said this is attempted murder.

I hope you've lawyered-up.

[origional me]

these guys both have houses on my block. the so called crews are undocumented, illegal immigrants, some with open criminal warrants. neither kept up on maintaince on the properties. both rent through sect 8

I think if you have more than 10 properties in the city and you rent sect 8, and you loose your voucher due to legitimate l & I complaints for more than 3 in one yr, vouchers for all properties should be suspended.

[nickster]

How dare these scumbags whine to City Council as if they are victims. Where do they sleep at night? I'm sure it's not next door to a drug house missing a storm door where 'characters' come and go all hours of the day and night.

[Mayfair]

I just don't get how these people can't be found. When i read that I was stunned. Don't all of these government agencies work together?

Where is his drivers license renewal form mailed to?
Car registration?
Where does he file his taxes from?
etc

It just seems so easy!

[Mayfair]

I will say though that after reading that story, there was one part of it that I could see as a legitimate problem, especially after reading some of Artic Splash's nightmares. I'm referring to the part where the landlords were complaining about problem tenants and the difficulty they have in removing them. I'm not saying that I'm siding with these particular landlords, but I do see how the law now seems to side with renters and looks at all landlords as money grubbing thieves which honestly isn't true. That story where squatting was encouraged was chilling! There needs to be something set in place where there is immediate and fair justice for both sides.

[nickster]

I will say though that after reading that story, there was one part of it that I could see as a legitimate problem, especially after reading some of Artic Splash's nightmares. I'm referring to the part where the landlords were complaining about problem tenants and the difficulty they have in removing them. I'm not saying that I'm siding with these particular landlords, but I do see how the law now seems to side with renters and looks at all landlords as money grubbing thieves which honestly isn't true. That story where squatting was encouraged was chilling! There needs to be something set in place where there is immediate and fair justice for both sides.

It's the cost of doing business. The slumlords certainly have the better end of the deal. If all they can come up with as a defense is whining about lying tenants, maybe they should find another business to be in.

[Mayfair]

It's the cost of doing business. The slumlords certainly have the better end of the deal. If all they can come up with as a defense is whining about lying tenants, maybe they should find another business to be in.

When I wrote that, I wasn't thinking about these s**ty landlords, I was thinking about my father. He, like many other people in Mayfair, bought a duplex right around the corner from where we lived in hopes of being able to count on the tenants to help with his retirement in the future. Because he valued his investment, he meticulously maintained the property and immediately took care of any problem that arose. Unfortunately he got a bad tenant. The tenant was a friend of a friend who started off great, however after about two years turned into the tenant from hell. I think it took two, maybe three years to have this tenant evicted and since he knew his number was up the tenant chose to destroy my fathers apartment. This whole ordeal took years off of my fathers life and had me seriously considering taking matters into my own hands. Thank God I was living in Florida at the time and most of what was going on was kept from me until it was over!

What my father and family had to endure is what I'm talking about, not some s**tty landlord who doesn't give a damn. The way the current laws are written the landlord, good or bad, doesn't really stand a chance once a bad tenant is in and more and more bad tenants know it.

[nickster]

Sorry about your parents experience, Mayfair. Unfortunately, I guess the moral of the story is it doesn't pay to be an honest landlord.

[Mayfair]

Sorry about your parents experience, Mayfair. Unfortunately, I guess the moral of the story is it doesn't pay to be an honest landlord.

Thanks bro!

I'd say the moral of the story is that not all landlords are slumlords, and Council needs to keep this in mind when writing new or reviewing old laws.

I hate slumlords just as much as anyone else does, but writing laws that are only going to extend the red tape isn't the answer. These slumlords can easily hire someone to sit in court or wherever to file a document, have a case tried, etc, whereas landlords like my father had to take countless days off from work to file something or to have a case heard etc. On top of that, several times he had to hire a lawyer. All the while he was treated like a slumlord by all that he came in contact with. It was very frustrating and humiliating.

I'm not real sure what the answer is and Council has their work cut out for them, however I'd favor some sort of 3 strike rule.

If a landlord complains to (insert gov official here) about a tenant, or a tenant complains about a landlord to the same official, after 3 complaints in either direction, they are to be immediately and permanently separated - PERIOD!!

None of this year long court battle, just separate them.

Furthermore, should a landlord receive multiple complaints from neighbors, then his status as a Section 8 landlord, or his landlord license itself, should be reviewed and or possibly revoked no longer allowing him to rent to anyone anywhere.

Given the technology that we have today, I don't think anything that I've suggested above is difficult at all.

[Cya]

What the article doesn't say about the landlords who did show up (having hundreds of properties) is: Are their properties Section 8 aka "Housing Choice"?
Or are they private rentals?
I'm guessing "Housing Choice".
If that's the case, their comments are important. They give a little insight into the entire Federal Housing red tape on a city level.
How can Bobby Henon tackle that?

[ArcticSplash]

I just don't get how these people can't be found. When i read that I was stunned. Don't all of these government agencies work together?

Where is his drivers license renewal form mailed to?
Car registration?
Where does he file his taxes from?
etc

It just seems so easy!

The City doesn't keep good track of which properties in the City are rentals and which aren't. There's the Housing License, but landlords usually don't run to get one until they need to evict someone.


The usual way you can tell is to look at where the water bill goes. If it's being mailed somewhere else other than the property, that's a very strong indicator that it's an investment property and not a primary domicile. It's not a sure-fire way though (some people have shore houses and choose to have their mail sent to the shore while they let a relative live in the Phila house for free... or they live in an RV and go roaming and keep their Phila residence... but those people are few and far between).


If Municipal Court didn't have a CAPTCHA on their website I could write a bot that scans every L&T case for the last 15 years looking for evictions and pull the property addresses off each one... that would be a very helpful indicator of which properties in the City are known for sure to be rentals at one point in time.


If you had a very severe fine for not having a registered rental property and the City discovers your rental through an L&I complaint... say a $4,000 fine, then you cannot obtain an eviction through L&T court until you pay the fine off and get your housing license (it's withheld until you clear off your problems). That would make more sense, and you would also get a ton of folks voluntarily registering their properties because that's far better than losing access to Municipal Court and running the risk of a tenant-turned-squatter who won't leave the property, and you can't evict them.