GIRARDVILLE — The borough council formally adopted an ordinance at Thursday’s meeting that requires owners of rental properties to apply for a rental occupancy permit.
The ordinance (2016-1) states the application for the permit is submitted to the borough secretary and allows for the inspection of the rental property in order to obtain the occupancy permit.
Borough solicitor Christopher Riedlinger explained the ordinance, saying it requires any borough landlord to file an application for a rental permit. If the permit is granted, the code enforcement officer would be entitled to “do an inspection of the property to make sure it meets with all of our maintenance codes,” Riedlinger said.
Riedlinger added, “If there are code violations upon inspection, the code officer will be proceeding with a notice of violation and citations under the property maintenance code, not under this ordinance itself. This ordinance only prohibits landlords from renting out their property without the permit, and to get the permit you have to undergo the inspection. I will certainly be available to answer any questions from the code enforcement officer on a case-by-case basis.”
Riedlinger said the rental occupancy permit is good for two years and must be renewed.
“If the property does meet with the maintenance codes, the permission for the rental permit is given and is valid for a period of two years,” Riedlinger said. “If it doesn’t meet with the code revisions, the permit is not issued until it is brought up to code. After two years when the permit expires, the process is repeated. There will be another inspection, and if there are code violations at that time, there is no new permit issued. If it meets the code at that time, another two-year permit is issued.”
The ordinance states that if a “certificate of noncompliance” has been issued, the owner will make the rental unit and the structure to which it is located available for an inspection within 30 days of a request by the code enforcement officer or other borough designee after the expiration of the days given the owner to correct the condition cited on the certificate of noncompliance. After the inspection, a rental occupancy permit will be issued if the violations have been corrected, or if not, or another noncompliance certificate will be issued. If the latter, the procedure repeats itself until the violations are corrected or the owner removes the rental unit from consideration for lease.
Riedlinger said the application fee is $10. The inspection fee per rental unit is $60.
“There is a separate resolution (2016-6) setting those two costs that can be adjusted from time to time by a resolution without the formality of advertising another ordinance,” Riedlinger said.
The ordinance states that an owner of a rental unit that is not a “natural person,” such as a limited liability corporation, must name a person, with an address and phone number, on the application and who can be contacted by the borough to deal with issues pertaining to the rental unit and who may be subject to being cited for any violations of the ordinance.
Enforcement of the ordinance can be enforced by, and citations for violation, can be filed by any borough police officer, the mayor or the code enforcement officer.
The ordinance and resolution were adopted in one unanimous vote.