Questions Asked by Democratic Caucus Regarding the Landlord Registration Act

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These questions were given to the General Manager on January 9th for answers.

1) How many times in the past year have we had this problem of not being able to identify or contact a landlord?
- When was the last time it happened?
- How was that resolved?

2) The memo states that an initial mailing of the registration form will be done to landlords:
- Who will do that?
- Any idea how many pieces will be mailed?
- Is money budgeted for that?
- Do we have an estimate of how much staff time that would involve?

3) As these forms are returned with the information it has to be entered into a database.
- Do we have the software in-house to support that database, or we will have to create or modify software for that purpose?
- Who will do the data entry?
- Do we have an estimate of how much staff time that would involve?
- As changes come in, the database will have to be constantly updated.
- Who will update?
- Do we have an estimate of how much staff time that would involve?

4) Will additional manpower be needed to implement this ordinance?
- If not, what makes us think there is extra capacity in the building department to simply “soak up” this additional workload?
- If not, will some current activity or function will have to be cut back so staff can devote time to the LRO?

5. Other Towns that have enacted a landlord Registration ordinance have not actively enforced it, why not?

6. What happened to the fee provision that was in the October ordinance? Wouldn’t that be a good idea to offset the costs of implementing this? What was the reasoning behind eliminating the fee requirement?

7. The ordinance specifies that the landlord “shall” (i.e., mandatory) provide a phone number. There is no authority in the state statute for that – the state statute requires only the providing of an address. Will we pursue Landlords who refuse to provide a phone number? Can we charge someone with an infraction if they did not provide a phone number? Would the Landlord be able to challenge the infraction because the Town did not have any authority to require a phone number?

8. Can the Town set the eligibility requirements for current and future CDBG programming by ordinance? Do the CDBG guidelines require that those restrictions be written into the CDBG program itself, as we currently do with the housing re-hab eligibility requirement that an applicant be current on all property taxes?

9. General Statutes Section 47a-7 requires a Landlord to comply with “all applicable building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety of both the state or any political subdivision thereof ..” If the Landlord fails to do so, one of the remedies available to the Tenant is withholding the rent pursuant to §47a-4a?

10. How many rental units within the meaning of this proposed ordinance are there in Manchester?

11. How many “landlords” subject to this proposed ordinance are there?

12. If the reason for the ordinance is that we don’t have addresses to contact Landlords, but we’re going to get the address information from them by mailing them a form? If we have the address to mail the form to them, why do we need the ordinance? If we don’t have an address for them, how are we going to mail them the form?

13. Do we have an existing list of “landlords” that we can use for this program?
- If not, will we have to create one?
- How will that be done?
- Who will do it?
- Do we have an estimate of how much staff time that would involve?

14. What is the expectation for the initial voluntary compliance rate (percentage)?

15. After the initial voluntary compliance, what’s the next step?
- Who will do that?
- Do we have an estimate of how much staff time that would involve?

16. At some point, we will get down to the final percentage - say 10% for argument’s sake - that just won’t do it, no matter what. How do we secure compliance from them?
- Who’s going to do that?
- Would there be any discretion in enforcement? In order to avoid a challenge based on selective enforcement, would we have to go after everyone? In state, out-of-state, individuals, corporations, etc.?
- Do we have an estimate of how much staff time that would involve?

17. How do new owners get notified that they have an obligation to register? Can the ordinance impose an obligation on the seller of rental property to notify the purchaser of the registration requirement or, in the alternative, impose upon the seller an obligation to notify the Town he is selling and give the address of the purchaser?

18. Mention was made of the Town having the right to lien property for unpaid fines under this ordinance. Please identify the statutory authority for that lien. Why would that not be expressly incorporated into the ordinance?