Freehold takes action on rental recommendations
Rental Advisory Committee submitted a list of suggestions
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD - Borough officials want members of the public to know they understand that not all landlords are bad.

But landlords of the 1,900 rental properties in town need to be aware that all residents in the borough have the right to a decent quality of life that includes living in a safe home that is managed properly and free of violations.

To that end, members of the Rental Advisory Committee have continued to fine tune 15 recommendations regarding rental properties that were presented to the Borough Council in February.

The Rental Property Advisory Committee recently reformed for a single meeting to review the status of those recommendations.

The committee's recommendations addressed quality of life issues including exploitation of tenants, overcrowding, neglecting to maintain the interior and/or exterior of rental properties, and otherwise compromising the health, safety and welfare of the community.

Borough Attorney Kerry Higgins reviewed the status of the recommendations and drafted a document that provides the final disposition of each item submitted to the council members for their consideration.

The recommendations reviewed by Higgins include a response to each one. They are as follows:

• Institute mandatory annual inspections of all borough rental properties.

This recommendation has already been implemented. Additionally, the borough has authorized code enforcement officials to work on Saturdays to carry out these inspections.

• Hire additional well-trained support staff and inspectors in the code enforcement office.

According to the document, Code Official Hank Stryker III did not feel that additional staff is required.

Officials agreed that a new software program that the borough is in the process of procuring will assist officials in carrying out investigations and responding to complaints in a prompt manner. A method to devise a way of informing people that their complaints have been received and will be investigated is also being developed. Council, however, will still discuss the viability of hiring additional staff members.

• Ensure that tracking methods currently in use are efficient for following up on complaints and violations.

The borough has selected a software research program that will provide tracking of all types of cases. A contract for this software is anticipated in the near future.

• Review and update all ordinances on the books with the purpose of enforcing all of them.

Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina, Stryker and Higgins will review the property maintenance code and housing code ordinances. Stryker will ask his staff to provide a list of recommendations for changes in the ordinances.

• Increase fines for violations of borough codes and ordinances.

This ordinance increased non-housing code violation fees to $2,000, the new maximum statutory limitation for municipal fines.

• Levy fines for every violation occurring simultaneously, rather than fining for one violation only.

The current practice is to issue a summons for every violation that the code enforcement officer observes and for which there is a reasonable basis.

• Discontinue the practice of fining only one owner in a multiply-owned residence.

According to the document, there were no specific examples of this occurring. Code enforcement officers confirmed that they issue summonses against the responsible parties in each case.

Stryker recommended that officials should, where appropriate, issue a summons against all owners if there is more than one owner.

• For landlords whose properties are overcrowded, request jail or community service. Post names of landlord offenders in newspapers in order to discourage future offenders. Forward offenders' names to the Internal Revenue Service and the New Jersey Division of Taxation (landlord is likely not reporting the income from all tenants), as well as to their mortgage company and insurer.

The mayor and council do not control the municipal court. Jail is not often not an appropriate penalty for such a municipal ordinance violation except for chronic violators with serious offenses. Community service is often part of the penalty.

The borough has on several occasions provided information as to employers picking up workers in the muster zone to the IRS, the state Division of Taxation and the Department of Labor to no avail and without receiving any feedback from the agencies. The mayor and council will periodically review this issue to determine whether to direct employees efforts in this or in other directions.

The council will, however, continue to give the names of convicted landlords to the press. This will be accomplished by the court clerk providing names to Bellina, who will then forward them to newspapers.

• Require landlords who violate ordinances to reimburse for tenant relocation, reimburse the school district for children of illegally housed tenants who wrongfully attend the schools, and reimburse the borough for remediation costs in case of fire in overcrowded or unsafe units.

Landlords are held responsible for relocation costs. However, borough policy is to issue summonses for violations rather than remove and actively relocate tenants. Relocation is used in cases where there is imminent danger to the property or people. The issuance of summonses and penalties against landlords is a stronger tool than involving the borough in relocating tenants. Relocation also has stringent rules and rights attached and relocated children would still be the responsibility of the borough to educate for the school year.

• Require property and casualty insurance for all rentals.

The landlord registration ordinance would have to be amended to make this a requirement. At this time, it was determined not to do so.

• Increase fines for each repeat occurrence of a violation. Revoke Certificate of Occupancy and/or landlord registration. Post bond for repeaters.

The new ordinance already increases the fines and provides a separate violation for repeat offenses. There is no legal basis to revoke the landlord registration. Theoretically, a landlord's Certificate of Occupancy could be revoked but that would require tenant relocation and as above, the issuance of summonses and fines is a better deterrent than this option.

• Deputize other borough employees to report possible violations.

All public employees are trained and encouraged to report violations and conditions and to remedy conditions as they are observed. The employees will periodically be reminded to be observant for, and report property maintenance violations.

• Programs/methods should be instituted to educate landlords and tenants. Give landlords notice of possible penalties for code violations. Add additional bilingual staff.

The council has recommended that the Human Relations Committee host a semi-annual forum for landlords and tenants during which it will distribute a summary from the booklet, "Truth in Renting." Council also directs the code enforcement supervisor to prepare a checklist detailing maintenance items for all properties that will be monitored by the code office and to post the checklist on the Web site and distribute it to landlords, tenants and homeowners.

• Establish forums for potential home buyers and for senior citizens.

Council members believed this was an idea worthy of being referred to the Human Relations Committee for action.

Finally, the committee considered an ordinance that has been proposed or adopted by several towns across the nation to combat overcrowding and its ensuing conditions. This ordinance would require anyone renting an apartment or home to produce valid proof of citizenship or permanent residency.

This recommendation brought a vociferous opposition from Latino advocates and was taken off the table by Mayor Michael Wilson in March.

Advocates for the borough's Latino community characterized that particular recommendation as one that would target their constituency. The response to this recommendation by the council is that at this time, such an ordinance would not have a legal foundation and would not be considered. Similar laws around the country would be monitored.