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See Jane Style:
By Marilyn Miller
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 09:36 p.m. EST, Nov 25, 2009
FAIRLAWN: Landlords in the city began receiving notifications by mail this week that rental registration fees have increased.
Rental properties in Fairlawn make up about one-third of the housing stock in the city.
There are 2,986 properties in Fairlawn. Landlords own 51 single-family homes and 943 multifamily rental units.
Chris Randles, who heads zoning and housing in the city, said Fairlawn established a property maintenance code on housing a couple of years ago and the increased fees are needed to help pay for those inspections.
The City Council approved the revised fee schedule on its third reading. There were no objections from landlords at the public hearing in September.
The new fees are: $40 for one unit, $60 for two to five units, $95 for six to 25 units, $190 for 26 to 100 units and $300 for 101 or more units.
A $10 late fee will be charged for each month that rental property owners fail to register. All rental properties have to be registered by Jan. 1.
Randles said the previous registration fee was $10 for the first rental unit and $1 per unit after that. The penalty fee for late registration was $25 per month. It only has been three years since Fairlawn changed its policy that previously required landlords to register only if they owned four or more rental units.
This recent increase also went into effect to help offset the additional work to register rental properties and administer the housing code as well as the cost of the walk-through neighborhood program.
Every year, the city housing department inspects Fairlawn properties for housing code violations. The inspections are limited to property exteriors.
''Because our housing stock is getting older, we wanted to make sure we had something in place to keep them from deteriorating,'' Randles said. ''It just gives us the tools to keep Fairlawn a nice community.''
Since there are so many properties and too few inspectors — three full time and one part time — Randles said it takes three years to inspect all 2,986 residential properties.
The city's completion of this year's one-third, or last phase of the walk-throughs, had 803 properties inspected. Of that number, 426 were rental units.
Inspectors found 226 violations, with more than half — 152 violations — on rental properties.
The most common violations are for peeling paint, poor roofs, broken windows and trash problems.
Fines for ignoring violation notices start at $100, then rise to $250 up to $500. When money can't be collected for a violation, the city hires a contractor to take care of the problem then attaches the cost to the property owner's tax bill.
But landlord violations aren't a major problem in Fairlawn.
''We try to work with people and find some middle ground,'' Randles said. ''I can only think of one time that we had to call in a contractor. The bill came to $1,100 to pressure wash and repaint a vacant house.''
Randles said residents also face violations, but might not have the means to pay for repairs. This year, the city created the residential housing rehabilitation financial assistance program, which provides help to seniors and low-income residents.
The program offers deferred no-interest loans to the elderly (65 or older) and low-interest loans for low-income homeowners (based on an annual income chart starting from an annual income of $21,600 for one person up to $40,700 for a family of eight).
The minimum amount of a loan for fix-ups is $1,000; the maximum, $10,000.
A board reviews applications for approval of financial assistance. For more information, call the Zoning, Housing and Residential Building Department at 330-668-9500.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.
FAIRLAWN: Landlords in the city began receiving notifications by mail this week that rental registration fees have increased.
Rental properties in Fairlawn make up about one-third of the housing stock in the city.
There are 2,986 properties in Fairlawn. Landlords own 51 single-family homes and 943 multifamily rental units.
Chris Randles, who heads zoning and housing in the city, said Fairlawn established a property maintenance code on housing a couple of years ago and the increased fees are needed to help pay for those inspections.
The City Council approved the revised fee schedule on its third reading. There were no objections from landlords at the public hearing in September.
The new fees are: $40 for one unit, $60 for two to five units, $95 for six to 25 units, $190 for 26 to 100 units and $300 for 101 or more units.
A $10 late fee will be charged for each month that rental property owners fail to register. All rental properties have to be registered by Jan. 1.
Randles said the previous registration fee was $10 for the first rental unit and $1 per unit after that. The penalty fee for late registration was $25 per month. It only has been three years since Fairlawn changed its policy that previously required landlords to register only if they owned four or more rental units.
This recent increase also went into effect to help offset the additional work to register rental properties and administer the housing code as well as the cost of the walk-through neighborhood program.
Every year, the city housing department inspects Fairlawn properties for housing code violations. The inspections are limited to property exteriors.
''Because our housing stock is getting older, we wanted to make sure we had something in place to keep them from deteriorating,'' Randles said. ''It just gives us the tools to keep Fairlawn a nice community.''
Since there are so many properties and too few inspectors — three full time and one part time — Randles said it takes three years to inspect all 2,986 residential properties.
The city's completion of this year's one-third, or last phase of the walk-throughs, had 803 properties inspected. Of that number, 426 were rental units.
Inspectors found 226 violations, with more than half — 152 violations — on rental properties.
The most common violations are for peeling paint, poor roofs, broken windows and trash problems.
Fines for ignoring violation notices start at $100, then rise to $250 up to $500. When money can't be collected for a violation, the city hires a contractor to take care of the problem then attaches the cost to the property owner's tax bill.
But landlord violations aren't a major problem in Fairlawn.
''We try to work with people and find some middle ground,'' Randles said. ''I can only think of one time that we had to call in a contractor. The bill came to $1,100 to pressure wash and repaint a vacant house.''
Randles said residents also face violations, but might not have the means to pay for repairs. This year, the city created the residential housing rehabilitation financial assistance program, which provides help to seniors and low-income residents.
The program offers deferred no-interest loans to the elderly (65 or older) and low-interest loans for low-income homeowners (based on an annual income chart starting from an annual income of $21,600 for one person up to $40,700 for a family of eight).
The minimum amount of a loan for fix-ups is $1,000; the maximum, $10,000.
A board reviews applications for approval of financial assistance. For more information, call the Zoning, Housing and Residential Building Department at 330-668-9500.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Norton, Oh
Posted 11:49 PM, 11/25/2009
More money gouging from politicians just because they can. The headline should have read "Fairlawn Renters to pay Higher Rent thanks to Chris Randle".
Norton, Oh
Posted 11:52 PM, 11/25/2009
It appears that the increase in fee for landlords (renters) is to help the property owners get money to fix their properties. Notice, according to the article, landlords are NOT eligible for these loans.
