A Minersville councilman says some landlords are getting around the Borough’s permit rules by bringing in contractors on Friday and finishing the work before the Borough office opens on Monday.
Councilman Jeff Enders raised the issue of “weekend warrior” contractors at a Borough Council work session on Wednesday. He said it has been a problem in town for years, and that out-of-state landlords are usually behind it.
“Come in on Friday, blow out the work, and they’re out of here by Sunday,” Enders said.
Enders described one property in town where he says it’s happening now. He said he saw workers there unloading shingles and told them to stop at the Borough office for a permit. They didn’t, he said. He reported it to the Borough, and Code Enforcement Officer Kyle Crouse posted a stop work order on the door.
“Mysteriously, that day before the Borough closed that Friday, they got a permit,” Enders said.
According to Enders, that permit covered only a roof replacement. He said the work since then has included electric baseboard heat and a new 200-amp electrical service, none of it permitted. He also said nobody knows who the electrical contractor was or whether that contractor had insurance.
“I think we’ve got to make it a little stricter on these people,” he said.
The maximum fine under the Borough’s permit ordinance is $300. Enders said that doesn’t stop a landlord with five or six units.
“It’s like a $300 fine. That’s nothing,” he said.
Enders floated an idea. When a landlord finishes a unit and Crouse inspects it for an occupancy permit, the Borough would make the landlord wait 90 days before renting it.
“I don’t know if we can do that legally, but we’ve got to start doing something,” he said. “You get more contractors on weekends than you do normally, and we’re losing a lot of money on permits.”
Borough Manager Megan Paul said she and Crouse are already working on an update to the permit ordinance. It would raise the $300 maximum fine and change other language.
She said the Borough has also brought police into enforcement. The Borough’s ordinance makes police officers deputies of code enforcement, so they can issue stop work orders. Paul said officers don’t always know what work needs a permit, so the Borough is putting together a list for them.
“If somebody is working without a permit and doing any of those things, the police can issue a stop work order,” Paul said. “They can stop it, notify Kyle, and then Kyle can handle it on Monday.”
Enders said he had already talked with Crouse and Police Chief Jeffrey Bowers about what police can do. He wants officers on weekend patrol to stop when they see work being done on a house and ask to see the permit.
Paul said the 90-day waiting period could be looked at as part of the ordinance rewrite. But she said the Borough would have to make sure it doesn’t violate Fair Housing law.
“Technically, if it passes inspection, it passes inspection,” Paul said.
Enders questioned how a unit could pass inspection if the work was never permitted. Paul said illegal work on a property can be cited on its own. Enders said he wants the Borough solicitor to weigh in on the waiting period.
Enders also cited figures to show how big the problem is. He said Minersville has about 4,400 residents on record, maybe 2,500 more who aren’t counted, and 1,124 rental units.
“There’s good landlords, there’s bad landlords, just like anything,” he said.
He said the owner of the property he described owns many properties in town and knows the rules.
“He knows he needs a permit,” Enders said. “But let’s play stupid. We come on a Friday, finish up Sunday.”
Enders said more out-of-town buyers keep coming. One investor, who he understood to be from Long Island, has been driving around town looking at properties.
“They buy property in Minersville and do what they want to do,” he said. “We’ve got to stop it now, because next year it might be 1,500 units. The year after that, 2,000.”
The discussion also turned to the Borough’s tenant registration fee. Paul said tenants pay a one-time fee of $10 per person when they move into a unit, and the Borough relies on landlords to report who is living there.
“In good faith, we take the word of the landlord when they come down and say, ‘Here’s who I rented to,’” Paul said. “It’s a tough call.”
She added that the Minersville Area School District won’t register students who live in a rental unit unless the unit has an occupancy permit.
The fee has been $10 for as long as the Borough has had it. Enders said he’d like to raise it, because taxes may be going up and the extra money could help homeowners. In August, council approved a $4,065,000 bond to renovate the Borough office and pay for other projects. Council President Jamie Kuehn said at the time that it would mean a property tax increase.
Enders said tenants moving in and out also creates a safety problem. If a building with three apartments catches fire, he said, the Borough may not know who has been living there. Paul said fire crews have called the office during fires to ask how many people should be in a building, and all the Borough can tell them is who is registered.
Kuehn said tenants who follow the rules come in and pay.
“We have a process in place,” Kuehn said. “The landlords just aren’t being honest.”
Paul said many unregistered tenants find out they aren’t registered when they call or come in about a bill and say their landlord isn’t paying it. The office can’t give them any information because they aren’t registered.
“We try and keep it under control, but it’s a constant influx,” she said.
Enders told Coal Region Canary after Wednesday’s meeting that permits are about safety. Unpermitted electrical work is a fire risk. Contractors also have to show ID and proof of insurance to get a permit, so if a crew damages the house next door, the Borough has the insurance on file.
He said he isn’t trying to put down renters.
“I just feel we have to be a little tougher,” he said.
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