Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - The Syracuse Corporation Counsel is making good on a pledge to toughen the city's rental registry law. A city hall spokesperson says letters have been sent to all the landlords who have complied, telling them they need not re-register until revisions are made in the law.
The Corporation Counsel Plans to brief the Common Council next week on a new rental registry, designed to crack down on slumlords and reward the landlords who have been keeping their homes and apartments up to code. City lawyers say the original registry law, enacted during Mayor Matt Driscoll's Administration, lacks the teeth to provide for effective enforcement and protection of tenants.
Syracuse prepares to crack down on landlords
June 8
Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Syracuse City Hall says it needs to put sharper teeth in the law that's supposed to protect tenants from bad landlords - and they hope to do it quickly.
Under the existing law, if a landlord doesn't have a valid "Rental Registry" card the city can take them to court. The registry law, however, doesn't carry much enforcement power. The city's top lawyer, Corporation Council Juanita Perez Williams, is working to get tougher on property owners who've dragged their feet for years. "We are now reviewing the rental registry program," she said.
Exhibit A, says the Corporation Counsel, could well be 228 Wall St. on the west side. During last May, the fire department told a young mother of two on Section 8 subsidized housing that she had to leave and leave quickly. The ceiling had collapsed, the electricity failed, and she had to get out. The City declared the house unfit for human habitation. "We know that it's had a history of code violation. We know that we have had inspectors in there over the last several months," said Williams.
Williams says John Kiggins' Endzone Properties LLC, owns the home at 228 Wall St. and 25 other homes. "These properties, what we know of them, many of them are delinquent in taxes, unpaid water bills and have code violations," said Williams. "Since this incident occurred, he's had some contractors to try and go in and make some repairs, but unfortunately, he's one of those landlords that is just reactive to being caught."
Kiggins, Williams says, has a lot of company. The City says 28 percent of all landlords in the city have never even applied for a rental registry card. Those landlords own more than 2,300 properties. "Enforcement for us is going in and which, we have not done, would be having tenants not reside in these particular properties. That's difficult to do," she said.
By July first, Williams says the City will come up with some plan to sanction the bad landlords, and give a break to the ones who've been playing by the rules.
