Hundreds of Athens landlords could be charged with violating city code if they fail to submit a signed tenant agreement within the next month.
Although city officials have vowed this year to enforce more stringently the ordinance, which was intended to inform tenants about basic housing codes, they have received about the same amount on time as they did last year.
As of Friday, a week past the deadline, the Code Enforcement Office tallied 633 valid documents, less than a quarter of the 2,800 total, said administrative assistant Theresa Carter, who tracks the records.
Service-Safety Director Ray Hazlett said he is somewhat disappointed because people aren't cooperating with the Athens
City Council's well-intentioned plan to educate tenants about their responsibilities.
I think
sadly it's about the same response you get from a (voluntary) questionnaire not a required city form, Hazlett said.
Only about 600 agreements were complete at this time last year, but no landlord was ever prosecuted because the code enforcement director thought the ordinance needed to be clarified before it could be properly enforced.
Now that's set to change. Starting this week, the Code Enforcement Office will send out violation notices that give landlords 30 days to turn in their agreements. Those that haven't responded by mid-November will receive compliance orders, and a list of non-respondents will be sent in December to the law director's office for prosecution, Carter said.
Landlord David Sturbois, a strong opponent of the declaration, said he showed his tenants the forms but won't be mailing anything in because he thinks the city is overstepping its bounds and might be invading tenants' privacy.
I wouldn't sign the thing if I was a student
Sturbois said. He disagrees with the idea that the documents become public record, meaning the names and addresses listed on them could be open to public viewing.
Other landlords have dealt with the extra work of getting the papers signed and turned in with little complaint.
We take any legislation that city council or the code office has on the books seriously
said landlord John Wharton of University Off-Campus Housing.
Wharton has about 1,000 tenants and has been among the most responsive landlords who submitted the forms by the Sept. 30 deadline, according to Code Enforcement.
He keeps the process streamlined in the way that city officials have suggested: having tenants sign the agreements when they sign leases.
But Sturbois contends that the process and its consequences are more complicated. As for potential prosecution, he plans to wait and see what the city does.
Does it worry me? Sturbois said. Only in the aspect that I don't need any more grief or unnecessary work.
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Kantele Franko
