Proposed rental regulations remain hot topic in Lisbon
LISBON — Lisbon-area landlords pushed back at proposed legislation that would require village landlords obtain a certificate of occupancy through a property inspection program, calling any such oversight “overreach” at Tuesday’s council meeting.
“I think all parties can see the potential for overreach and invasion of privacy, and I am here to caution against that,” resident Jesse Ketchum said.
The ordinance would include a landlord registry and the awarding of the certificate once a simple checklist of criteria — working heat, adequate windows, running water and operational sanitary — is met.
Local rental property owners questioned the need for the ordinance, the legalities of enforcing it and what, if any, purpose it would serve. They also made it clear that any inspection or registry fee required by the village would likely be passed on to the renter, as would the cost of any repairs needed to pass inspection.
“There is not a lot of money to be made [as a landlord]. Let’s be honest about it. If you are making a lot of money, you probably are overcharging,” Brian Brown, a village landlord, said. “I try to charge a fair price for everybody and I am lucky to make a couple hundred bucks. You got to talk about profit margins. Are we going to have to drive the price up after we pay to cover all the things?”
Mayor Pete Wilson has been advocating for rental regulations since he served on council and took office as mayor, and despite the negative feedback given by village landlords, Wilson still believes rental regulations are needed. He also said Lisbon is well within its authority to adopt them.
“The idea of a rental property ordinance is to improve the housing stock, maintain property values, and make sure that renters in the village are living in safe and sanitary conditions. That is what this strictly is,” Wilson said. “It’s not government overreach. People who own houses or apartments and rent them out are offering a service. The Ohio Revised Code does allow municipalities to regulate this market. Ohio Revised Code 715.29 and 715.26 are quite clear. We do have the right to regulate rental properties. We do have the right to make sure that they are safe both in the exterior and interior.”
Some argued that those who rent unsafe dwellings are likely to find a way to skirt the ordinance.
“I understand there are slumlords, but they have a slumlord mentality. So we have someone that has a slumlord mentality and you say ‘I am going to go inspect their house’ and you say ‘you need a rail on one of those steps,’ they bolt a 2-by-4 over there. They don’t make the house better,” another village rental property owner said. “I am not telling you what people could do. I am telling you this because I know people who do this. And I am also going to tell you if you give a slumlord a hard time, they are just going to sell the house on a land contract and then it’s not a rental and you can’t inspect it.”
He went on to explain that could lead to potential scam when the house is sold to lower-income people — who often use their federal tax return as a down payment. Land contracts allow for an individual to pay a down payment and make monthly payments towards a final purchase price of a property and eventually acquiring ownership of the home. It’s basically seller financing.
“Those people make enough money to pay the bills and they are going to go on paying bills for two years or so or whatever, but then things are going to break in the house and they don’t have the extra money to fix it,” he said. “And when the furnace goes or the hot water tank goes or if their car breaks down, they can’t make a payment and the owner gets the keys back and they do it all over again. It’s more about the down payment and taking people’s money than it is about the property.”
While rent-to-own or land contract scams do happen, there are existing laws in place to circumvent such schemes. In Ohio, if a person purchasing a home on a land contract has lived in it for five years or more from the time of the first payment or has paid 25% or more of the purchase price, the legal property owner can not reclaim possession of the home. He or she is required to initiate foreclosure proceedings and the home will be sold at a judicial sale with the property owner entitled to only the funds he is owed on the contract.
It’s meant to offer a level of consumer protection, as is Lisbon’s proposed ordinance, according to Wilson.
“I know a woman who has five kids lives in the village and the sewer is backed up in her basement. She has raw sewage on the floor. They had to turn off the furnace because of the smell. They were afraid that with the furnace on, air would come up through the events and pollute the entire house,” he said. “The landlord has known about it for a month and has tried to repair it himself unsuccessfully. He took off a week before Christmas to go on vacation, leaving them with a basement full of sewage.”
Under the proposed ordinance the non-working sanitation system would have been flagged and repair required before the property could have been rented out for profit.
Wilson has been working with Village Solicitor Alec Beech on the rental regulations which calls for creation of a part-time rental inspector to carry out the inspections. The cost to employ the inspector will be paid for with the inspection and registry fees collected. A draft of the ordinance was presented at the last Committee of the Whole meeting. Wilson weighed the feedback he received at that meeting and asked council to allow him to work with Beech on a re-advised draft to present during a committee meeting on Feb. 4 at 5:30 p.m. Council approved the request.
In other matters, Cora Lewis was named to the vacant seat on the Board of Public Utilities Board after the unexpected death of BPA member and formal village mayor Jeff Snyder in early December.
“We had four or five which were interested which is unheard of for the Board of Public Affairs, and I tell you this was a very, very tough decision to make, but we ask that council appoint Cora Lewis to the seat and we welcome her aboard,” BPA chair Bill Hoover said.
At the start of Tuesday’s meeting, council paused for a moment of silence for Snyder and read a proclamation acknowledging his long service to the village, stating that Snyder’s “impact on the community will endure and will be missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him.”
In legislation. Council approved three items, a resolution for a fire agreement with Center and Elk Run Township, an ordinance to accept the amended year appropriations as an emergency and an ordinance to approve annual appropriations ordinance for 2025 on its third reading.
Also on Monday, Council:
— Approved the purchase of 12 street light globes from Hawkins Sales ($9,600 or $800 a piece) , the purchase of 5 gooseneck cardioid microphones for Council chambers ($4,653) and the purchase of a laptop for the fiscal officer.
— Approved a request for two 5k races, one for April 12 (Bunny Hop) and the other (Zombie Run) for October 26
— Approved the creation of an intern position to work with both the mayor and police department and discussed a proposal to create student councilmen, asking Wilson to write up a description of the jobs.
— Received updates on the Grant Street Bridge project, the Pritchard Avenue Bridge project, rewriting of the zoning code, and the construction of the county’s archive building.
— Approved the employee evaluation form and the manner in which evaluations will be given.
— Heard from Wilson plans to apply for a T-Mobile grant for Willow Grove Park.