Absentee Landlords

A new set of building and occupancy codes was adopted by the Souderton Borough Council Monday night to counteract absentee landlords who rent dilapidated properties to unruly tenants. The new codes will allow borough officials to force landlords to maintain their properties better, council members hope. The impetus for the action was dozens of complaints lodged with police against a home on Franklin Street whose residents, neighbors say, have repeatedly disturbed the rest of the neighborhood with loud and obnoxious behavior.

IN RESPONSE to "Are Absentee Landlords Killing Once-Good NE Philadelphia Neighborhoods?" : Over the years, I have received numerous complaints from constituents regarding unresolved tenant and maintenance issues at properties with absentee landlords. I recognized this as a problem all across the city. That is why I introduced bill No. 090834, which amended the city's property-maintenance code by requiring property owners who do not live in the city or a surrounding county, under specific terms and conditions, to designate a local property manager and provide the full contact information to the proper city department.

WHEN MIKA Deburow bought her compact, tan-brick Tacony rowhouse 12 years ago, it was in the middle of a quiet, tidy and peaceful block. Now, the well-kept houses with trim lawns accented by decorations and flowers are mere dots on a cluttered block where trash crinkles underfoot, dogs sometimes run loose and overgrown weeds creep onto porches. "I've had enough," said the 41-year-old, who raised her children in the home on Marsden Street near Levick. "This was a nice neighborhood.

A leaky roof or cracked window panes in an apartment complex is not always a top priority for a landlord - especially one who lives out of state and isn't in touch with the daily rhythms of the apartment residents. That's what borough officials are trying to change with a new ordinance, adopted last week, that will require all the borough's rental properties to be registered and inspected annually. "What we're trying to do is make sure properties that are rented out are maintained," said Councilman Bob McGlinchy.

Martha Wright Hadrick and her neighbors on East Oak Street are ready to do battle. Though the battleground is this borough's 2.3 square miles, the enemy is far away. Connecticut. Boston. New York. That's where many Norristown slumlords live - where many of the people who call the boarded-up buildings along Hadrick's street "investments" have retired. "These people are living so far away," Hadrick said. "What do they care about what happens to us? People here feel hopeless.

In a proposal unlike any other in the region, City Council is considering a plan to buy or condemn multifamily houses in parts of the city's southeast and southwest neighborhoods, refurbish them, and convert them into single-family residences that could be sold. The city would first target houses that are up for sale, or whose landlords, most of whom officials say don't live in the city, are willing to sell the property. If a landlord doesn't want to sell, though, the city does have the power to condemn the houses, paying fair market value for them, even if they are occupied, officials say. The plan would focus on about 50 houses in the area of Leeds Place, and East Barber, Franklin, Hopkins, and Wallace Streets.

PAULSBORO ? In an effort to control the number of rental units, the Borough Council this week declared a temporary moratorium on granting new rental licenses. The resolution also states that absentee landlords cannot increase their number of rental units. Under the Landlord Licensing Ordinance passed four years ago, the council has sweeping control over rental properties. Critics say the move is biased against Paulsboro landlords, who do $5.8 million in rental business in one of the county's poorest municipalities.

ON TUESDAY, the first case at the city's Rental Housing Court will be heard at the 8th Police District in Northeast Philadelphia. This long-awaited development will finally tackle the long-standing and destructive practice of irresponsible absentee landlords and nuisance rentals in the city. This project is a two-year labor of hard work and dedication by the Department of Licenses & Inspections, Municipal Court, local civic and community organizations in Northeast Philadelphia and my office, which investigated these nuisance rentals.

Take a drive through neighborhoods here, officials and residents say, and it's easy to pick out many of the borough's 500 rental properties - they are the homes with bald yards, ugly siding and broken windows. "That's just the outside. The inside could be in deplorable condition," said Commissioner Joan Leonard, who has been heading up efforts to beautify the borough's main street. "Somebody's got to take responsibility for these properties. " An ordinance being considered by the commissioners would force landlords to do just that.

Landlords in Collingswood now face fines if their tenants - or even the tenants' visitors or pets - create a nuisance. Under an ordinance unanimously adopted Monday by the Borough Commission, landlords can be held responsible "for any activities, actions, events and conduct of any person and/or animal" on the rental property. The purpose of the new law is to bring nuisances caused by tenants under control, according to Borough Administrator Jean DeGennaro. "We have a lot of absentee landlords who are not taking care of their properties or the problems there.

IN RESPONSE to "Are Absentee Landlords Killing Once-Good NE Philadelphia Neighborhoods?" : Over the years, I have received numerous complaints from constituents regarding unresolved tenant and maintenance issues at properties with absentee landlords. I recognized this as a problem all across the city. That is why I introduced bill No. 090834, which amended the city's property-maintenance code by requiring property owners who do not live in the city or a surrounding county, under specific terms and conditions, to designate a local property manager and provide the full contact information to the proper city department.

WHEN MIKA Deburow bought her compact, tan-brick Tacony rowhouse 12 years ago, it was in the middle of a quiet, tidy and peaceful block. Now, the well-kept houses with trim lawns accented by decorations and flowers are mere dots on a cluttered block where trash crinkles underfoot, dogs sometimes run loose and overgrown weeds creep onto porches. "I've had enough," said the 41-year-old, who raised her children in the home on Marsden Street near Levick. "This was a nice neighborhood.

They do things a little differently in Lansdale. For instance, elected officials embrace the radical notion that they should put aside their political differences and pull together for the welfare of the town. So when Mayor Andy Szekely and his challenger, former Borough Council President Ben Gross, were trying to generate excitement about November's mayoral election, they considered having a debate in the park. Szekely would wear a seersucker suit. Gross would don his customary bow tie. Looking like members of the Princeton debating team circa 1924, they would present their competing ideas for renewing their beloved community.

Classrooms are dusty and empty, halls silent. But reminders of student days at John Wanamaker Middle School at 12th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue are everywhere. Artwork on yellowing paper lines the walls of a dark auditorium. Smudged chalk notes cover blackboards. Gymnastic rings hang at the ready. Closed four years ago, the Wanamaker School in North Philadelphia is set to come back to life, but with an unusual new mix of uses - apartments for Temple University students, a charter school, a training center, a community hub for neighbors.

From her home on York Street in Burlington City, Blanche Nicholas sees apartments built for two people that can end up with as many as 10, and hordes of renters and their visitors who jam up the road with their cars and the park with their drugs. They have left her neighborhood a "junk place," Nicholas said one recent evening, and like many city homeowners, she blames one group in particular: the landlords. "The landlords are not doing anything," she said. "They're renting to anybody, and it's really not good for the owners.

Democratic mayoral candidate Michael Nutter scored a legislative victory yesterday in advance of his expected win at the polls Tuesday when City Council sent his bill to promote hiring of ex-offenders to Mayor Street. Street is expected to sign the bill, which offers businesses a credit of up to $10,000 annually on business-privilege taxes for each ex-offender hired for up to three years. Those jobs must pay 50 percent above minimum wage. In return, the ex-offender must pay 5 percent of wages back to the city, and the business must provide a total of $5,000 over three years for education and training and benefits on par with other full-time employees.

ON TUESDAY, the first case at the city's Rental Housing Court will be heard at the 8th Police District in Northeast Philadelphia. This long-awaited development will finally tackle the long-standing and destructive practice of irresponsible absentee landlords and nuisance rentals in the city. This project is a two-year labor of hard work and dedication by the Department of Licenses & Inspections, Municipal Court, local civic and community organizations in Northeast Philadelphia and my office, which investigated these nuisance rentals.

Like much of Philadelphia, the immigrant neighborhood that city agencies call St. Hugh, after the local Roman Catholic parish, is packed with century-old rowhouses, many of which need repairs that cost more than the houses are worth. That's too much risk for most banks - or borrowers. A 2003 city report found that one-fifth of the homes in the St. Hugh area and neighboring Fairhill had been abandoned; many more were in violation of city property codes. A partnership of the church, neighborhood groups, and Beneficial Savings Bank is trying to stem blight and make investment more attractive.

Many options exist for special-needs children Like Barbara Fleming, I am the parent of a special-needs child ("Forsaking the most vulnerable," Metro Commentary Page, June 5). My son is now 18 and fast approaching the 21-year mark, where the school district ceases funding his educational placement. I began making plans many years ago that would ensure an appropriate placement and continuing care for him. Because of the severity of his disability and the intense level of care required, my advocate told me to find a placement with a program that could continue into his adult years so he would be able to stay in one place, if necessary.