New Port Richey council members agree to focus on landlords, not tenants, when it comes to code violations.
By MELIA BOWIE
Published October 7, 2004
NEW PORT RICHEY - City Council members voted this week to take their code enforcement fight away from problem rental tenants and go straight to their landlords.
At issue are repeated code offenses that renters pile up in the city: from abandoned cars adorning their lawns to rodent, insect and other upkeep problems.
"New Port Richey has become the rental armpit of Pasco County," said council member Tom Finn during a Tuesday night meeting. "You can pretty much get away with anything."
And with about 40 percent of New Port Richey's housing stock being used as rental property, Finn said, elected leaders agreed the issue must be addressed, especially in light of major redevelopment efforts.
Before Tuesday night's vote, city rules held both the rental property's owner and its occupant responsible for maintenance. Fines are levied to force compliance in most cases.
"But it was discovered we had no effective ability to enforce sanctions or penalties against a nonowner occupant of the dwelling unit," interim City Manager Philip Deaton wrote in a memo to the council.
The newly approved change allows code officers to bypass the tenant and go straight to the property owner.
Among the suggested solutions was an idea by council member Ginny Miller to create a nuisance ordinance to target the larger problem.
"It's not just a code problem, it's not just a trash problem, it's a crime problem," she said, adding, "I think we need to go after this in a new direction."
More discussion is expected.
Code enforcement officials brought the landlord request to the council this week along with several other proposed code changes and clarifications. But the rental issue drew the most talk.
"Dealing with the owners here is important," said council member Bob Langford. "The residents, they don't care. They move on."
