Gail Burkhardt
For The Post
---
All landlords within the city may be forced to fill out forms to educate tenants about their rights and responsibilities as a result of an ongoing lawsuit between the City of Athens and three local landlords.
The ordinance addressing the landlord-tenant agreement was in question because landlords, David Sturbois, James Coady and Penelope Plesset said it violated their rights, according to a Friday ruling.
The landlord-tenant agreement informs tenants of regulations that they need to follow while living in the city, said Councilwoman Nancy Bain, D-3rd Ward. The regulations include guidelines for recycling and trash, parties, parking and more, she said.
Landlords must show the agreement to residents and both parties must sign the agreement. The landlords then must file it with the city, said Mayor Paul Wiehl.
They (Sturbois
Coady and Plesset) were charged with failing to file these forms and they filed a motion to dismiss saying that the law was unconstitutional said Athens City Law Director Patrick Lang.
Athens County Municipal Court Judge William A. Grim ruled that the ordinance about the landlord-tenant forms does not infringe on the right to privacy or any of the other violations that the landlords claimed.
He did, however, decide that part of the ordinance amending dwellings or houses with fewer than 10 people from filing the forms was unconstitutional and violated equal protection guarantees, according to the ruling.
The part of the ordinance did not require houses with less than ten occupants to fill out the landlord-tenant agreement because the ordinance was not enforced prior to 2007. Because of the cost and difficulty of enforcing the ordinance, larger apartment complexes were exempt from enforcement, according to the ruling.
Under the current code enforcement interpretations almost 3,000 rental units are subject to enforcement and more than 1,900 units are exempt, the ruling cited.
He's (Grim) basically interpreting dwelling unit differently into saying that it means the individual apartment and since there is no individual apartment that has 10 or more people that the law applies to everyone in the city Lang said.
The mayor must let Grim know by the hearing March 16 how he plans to enforce the law, Lang said.
Wiehl plans to enforce the forms with all landlords including those who deal with larger apartment complexes, the mayor said.
1
News
Sarah Beth Hensley
