Meeting To Address Slumlords - November 17

[Youngstownshrimp]

Nice Allan! 
This is what I am trying to bring to the forefront here.  You have lived through it as I have.  Landlords have their share of inept business people, most have come to Youngstown in the past with bank loans, and have since become insolvent.  In fact most have already vacated Youngstown.  I started in 1995 and stopped buying in 1999.  The real Landlords left are Gary Crim Inc. who now is ran by Gary's son-in-law.  Mark King, is now an old timer and he constantly is fighting a battle.  Mark Mallen was big and he since has moved to Denver and is now a very successful businessman, Youngstown's loss.  Which brings me back to my point. 
Youngstown's decades old approach to real estate in the City needs to be changed.  And I do not see it being a hard task.  First the public and activist like us here need to pressure our leaders that they NEED TO FORGET ABOUT IT............forget about the vote from the tenants, to the right thing.  The Tenant must be CHARGED FIRST damages incurred during their tenancy (OF COURSE THE LANDLORD IS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE IF TENANT DOES NOT CORRECT).  This would send a message to the community that they need to take care of THEIR HOME.  Secondly, the City needs to unify their housing and building divisions, once combined, meet with the housing court and inform the judge that they will start charging TENANTS first. 
This is the only way and real estate investors , which is the private sector know this and this is why they have vacated Youngstown, the brains that drained.

[AllanY2525]

Ron,

No problem buddy I was not offended at all. 



There are several different aspects of this whole subject, so I misunderstood. 

I was referring to residential tenants who are renting or leasing.  I had not even considered that
OTHER type of lease, ie: oil and gas companies leasing the mineral rights UNDER the property
and what should happen if THEY, as a business, were to damage the property somehow..... my bad.

I agree about damages caused by tenants above normal wear and tear.  If my rental property
fails an inspection because of damage caused by the tenant, I would go after the tenant whenever
local laws allow for it.  My city rental licenses are the proof that the unit was in good condition at
the time they moved in, and was up to code.

It would be interesting to compare (for lack of a better phrase) the "landlords' bill of rights" versus
the rights of tenants in Youngstown/Mahoning County to those here in Montgomery County, MD.
Down here, we have landlord tenant court and the housing laws are more favorable to landlords, I
believe.

I also believe that the landlord tenant rules and regulations in Youngstown/Mahoning county should
be reviewed and updated to help make tenants more accountable for keeping up their end of things,
and make it easier for a landlord to evict bad tenants, hold them responsible when they damage
the property, etc.

The local laws were most likely written back in the good old days when the majority of homes
in the city were owner occupied.

A long time ago, I mentioned the "tenant-landlord registry" here that works like a credit bureau
does for bad tenants who just move from rental to rental after being repeatedly evicted by multiple
landlords. 

A landlord here can report bad tenants to the registry just like a creditor can report you to
the credit bureaus when you don't pay your bills, have judgements against you, etc.  Not just
for non payment of rent, but for ANY bad behaviours on the tenants' part.

When a tenant fills out a rental application here, the prospective landlord can check the registry
to see if the applicant has a history of being a bad tenant, BEFORE renting to them.  This would help
make it harder and harder for habitually bad tenants to keep doing the same sh*t over and over,
property after property.

It would also help to look out for GOOD landlords who care about their properties and take care
of them.


I've included links to the county's web sites dealing with this stuff, if you're interested in seeing how
things work here, versus Youngstown.

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/olta

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DHCA/Resources/Files/housing/landlordtenant/handbook_olta.pdf

[Youngstownshrimp]

Allan and Counciman Swierz, let me put it this way, both of you are not getting what I am trying to say.  Landlord Tenancy Law as I read it and as practiced in most jurisdictions, is again- during time of possession by Tenant, the Tenant is responsible for all damages of the property he is leasing other than wear and tear.  Here is a recent example, if you lease your land to an oil company, they are responsible for all damages to the property.
Councilman, with due respect, this is why Youngstown has abandoned blighted buildings and why property values are one of the lowest in the country.  No investors want these houses, depopulation is not the cause and effect of noninvestment. 
Even the Point structures, I would be insane to record those properties in my name.  If recorded, the City would blame me for the back taxes, disrepair and what the vandals do to the property.  Case in point, this is why I stopped investing in structures in Youngstown, 15 years ago. Hey, the City's way has not worked for 40 years, what if you tried the opposite, it wouldn't hurt, haul the Tenants into court.   The problem I see is over 50% tenancy in Youngstown may vote for the Youngstown interpretation of the Landlord Tenant Law.  So the way we are going, more abandoned houses will keep popping up.

[john r. swierz]

 
   I know that some people will not agree with my statement ,oh well.  When someone buys a house to live in and own that means that he/she does not want to rent. It should be known by that person that all repairs and upgrades are their responsibility. When a person buys a house to rent out then that house is and investment to make money on the house. That investment means that it is a business investment. Once again to make a monthly profit.  I have always considered  landlords as business people. The landlord can put in the rental agreement the terms and conditions that the tenant must abide by. If the tenant doesn't abide then it falls on the landlord. I will always believe that a rental property is a business where a home owner purchase is a personal investment not for profit. I will now put my armor on !

[Youngstownshrimp]

Allan, what I am about to write is in a manner of total respect for you, so do not take this personally which I know you won't but others may.
What you have written is exactly why Youngstown blight is a cancer and will never change as long as we have this Blue Collar mentality.  In fact, I was just discussing this very thing with the City Zoning inspector DeCarlo.  Several years ago, a local Princeton Lawyer said to me, "Ron, you started as a realtor in Virginia, which is a Puritan State, Ohio is a Blue Collar State."
When I first learned to invest in real estate in Virginia, Landlords were held up as professionals.  When I moved up to Youngstown, we were known as Slumlords.  In Virgnia back then, their blight problem was not as it is here and Detroit.  Here is the reason why:  In Virginia, if you leased property that was up to code, the Tenants were responsible for the property other than ware and tear.  If the property was vandalized, the Judge would site the tenant.  If the tenant after a judgement was rendered was unable to correct the defect, ultimately YES the Landlord had to correct the problem.
After all these years, we can see that this approach of allowing the tenants to have their way with your asset have been distructive to the City, Hasn't it?

[AllanY2525]

I would think that any property owner is responsible to varying degrees for their
property - for single-family homes, it is traditionally the tenants' responsibility to
keep the grass cut, the yard cleaned, etc - but if the tenant fails to do so the
property owner's responsibility is to see that it gets done, regardless.

Every time I have my rental property on Illinois Avenue re-inspected by the city
to renew the rental licenses there (one license for each apartment) I am ultimately
the one who must pay for any needed repairs cited by the inspector, regardless
of how the repair became necessary, ie: tenant wore somethig out versus something
that came up for reasons other than neglect or abuse by the tenant(s).

If the repairs become necessary due to negligence or abuse on the part of the
tenant, the owner has legal remedies that can be pursued to mitigate the cost
of repairs, but ultimately it is still the owner's responsibility.

Tenant security deposits for rental properties are used as a hedge against this type
of situation.

[Youngstownshrimp]

Ah.............Allan question:

Is a Landlord responsible for his property during a lease other than ware an tear?

[AllanY2525]

There are multiple causes for blighted properties, but regardless of the
reasons, the owner is responsible for the property.  This is just one of
the things that comes with the privilege of owning property.

To me, a "slumlord" is a landlord who rents space in a property and will not
invest anything back into that property to maintain it, repair it, keep it up to
code, etc. because they are only in it for the money and do not care about the
property or their tenants.

Although I own other properties in the neighborhood which need varying
amounts of work - I do not rent them to anyone and would not unless they
were fully renovated and licensed by the city as rental units.

[Youngstownshrimp]

It seemed like this was a community organizing phase to lynch slumlords.  Then they all found out not many slumlords left in Ytown, even they ran away.
Ask Alan, he will explain who are the real culprits of blighted structures in YTown, the entitled SAVAGES who have a priceless VOTE, so don't go after them, go after the R. estate investor.

[ForumManager]

Thanks for the update, Phil

[Defend Youngstown]

This is the planning meeting.

The public meeting will take place on the 20th 6:30pm OCCHA, 3660 Shirley Road.

Invited Participants
Mark King  –  Property Owner

City Officials:
Sean McKinney  –  Code Enforcement
Ray DeCarlo  –  Zoning Enforcement
Jay Macejko - City Pros.

[ForumManager]

FYI - BY INVITATION ONLY
I was contacted by the person below and asked to remove this event.
I am not removing it but replying with this message since removing it might not get the word out adequately. If you have any questions, perhaps you can contact  her directly.
-----------------------------
Message From:
joys@mvorganizing.org

This meeting on Nov 17th is by invitation only - please remove from website.  Thanks!

MEETING TO ADDRESS SLUMLORDS
Monday, November 17,  6:30 p.m.
- at the -
Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative Office
Second Floor
22 West Wood Street.   
Youngstown, Ohio

Joy Serednesky
Development Director
Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative - MVOC
330.518.8810

[Defend Youngstown]

Yes. Open invitation. See everyone there.

[northside lurker]

I think it's open to the public.  I plan to attend with other members of my block watch, and I wasn't told to RSVP or anything like that.

[rusty river]

Is this meeting open, or are reservations necessary?