EVERETT — City leaders want to do something about a persistent problem in Everett: bad landlords.
These are the landlords who don’t patch leaky roofs, haul away rusted junk from yards or repair faulty wiring. Some slice homes into so many tiny rentals they aren’t legal, much less safe.
Bad landlords are the minority, but they still create heartburn for the city, Councilwoman Brenda Stonecipher said.
Their properties drag down surrounding home values and endanger tenants, she said. She’s heard of units with no running water and sewage seeping into the back yard.
“It’s not just a city liability,” she said. “We want to make sure people are living in safe and reasonable housing.”
The city in June first proposed getting at the problem by inspecting every rental in town. That idea fizzled after landlords and tenants groups told the city it wasn’t fair to penalize everybody for the actions of a few.
Now the city is moving forward with a plan that would skip inspections for all but the most problem-plagued properties.
Owners’ properties would be subject to rental inspections if they violate city code three times in six months on a single piece of property, said deputy city attorney David Hall, who’s working on the plan. Owners could avoid some penalties by agreeing to fix the problems.
The revised plan also calls for simplifying enforcement so code violations could be handled like parking tickets. The city also wants to make a mishmash of housing codes clearer. These portions of the plan would affect all property owners.
The city plans, too, to make better use of existing laws, particularly the state Residential Landlord-Tenant Act. The city suggests contracting with an agency to handle education and disputes between landlords and tenants.
The City Council last week OK’d city staff to get moving on fleshing out the details. More of the nitty-gritty should be in front of the City Council by November and new laws could be in effect by 2010.
“I feel like they listened to what the landlords said,” said Diane Ferguson, vice-president of the Snohomish County Apartment Operators Association, which represents more than 500 Snohomish County landlords. “They seem to be doing their best to be fair to everyone and still get to the substandard houses.”
Roughly half of the housing units in Everett are rentals — about 2,100 — according to census data collected between 2006-08. The city estimates about 10 percent of those units could be in violation of city code, Stonecipher said.
She supports the gist of the plan but is concerned it will rely too much on tenants turning in their landlords. There’s no way the city can know what’s going on inside rentals if a tenant is afraid to speak up.
“If you’re renting a little room for $200 a month, and that’s all you can afford, you won’t make trouble with the landlord,” she said.
She’s also concerned about plunking more duties on city code enforcers, who are already stretched thin.
Kevin Fagerstrom, a code enforcement director, said the plan might actually save workers time and the city money. Now, code enforcement officers spend a lot of time filling out documentation about code violations to present to a hearing examiner.
Under the new plan, the onus would be on the owner.
The city would issue a ticket and the property owner has to fix the problem and pay a fine. If the problem is not resolved, they are subject to additional fines. They can appeal the matter with the hearing examiner.
“It sounds like a huge time saver,” Fagerstrom said. “If the people get the message with the first visit, it will save themselves some money and they’ll fall off our radar screen.”
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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