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Potential Progress?

4/25/2013

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The April 21 Dallas Morning News' article "First Richardson mayor’s election in nearly 60 years features two familiar faces" mentions the city's rental registration program.

Both mayoral candidates now see the need to review it (while the city officials did not mention the fact that the occupants refused inspections.)


<QUOTE>
Both Omar and Maczka say the city needs to review its rental registration program, which requires that rental homes be registered with the city and inspected by city workers.

Some landlords and tenants say the program is too intrusive. City officials say they’ve taken two landlords to court because their homes weren’t made available for inspection, but that the vast majority of property owners have complied with the inspections.

“There certainly have been unintended consequences, like landlords going to court,” Maczka said. “The goal is not to take landlords to court. The goal is to make sure these homes are safe.”

Omar said: “We’ve gotten maybe a little bit aggressive on the inspection. Any reasonable resident would agree that we shouldn’t be forcing inspections.”
<UNQUOTE>



http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20130421-first-richardson-mayors-election-in-nearly-60-years-features-two-familiar-faces.ece
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What's the Point of This Inspection? (2)

4/20/2013

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Tenants moved into the house that got an inspection score of 99.25 with no interior violations.  They sent the landlord a list of things to be corrected before they physically moved in--a lot more things than the city inspector noted.  For example, they didn't like one of the ceiling fans wobbling.  So the landlord had to make several repairs and adjustments.

Any professional or sensible landlord uses a walk-through sheet for move-in.  This is mainly to avoid a dispute over the deduction from the security deposit at the time of move-out, but we make repairs, where necessary, according to the sheet.  Our goal is to keep tenants happy so they'll stay as long as possible.

Below is an example of a walk-through sheet.  (This particular form is for TAA members.)    Some tenants even write on the back of the sheet--2-3 pages full of things they think are wrong! They are a lot more thorough than city inspectors.  So what is the point of the city duplicating the already-established procedure with taxpayers' money? 
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Another Case of City Staff Not Following Ordinance

4/15/2013

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Ordinance 3847 says "Any rental unit that has a habitability score of less than 85 must be re-inspected until the rental unit achieves a habitability score of 85 or greater."

So why are the landlords who got a score of 85 or higher subject to re-inspection and required to make repairs?  That's not what the ordinance says.

What the city is doing is "Regardless of the score, any rental unit must be re-inspected until the rental unit achieves a habitability score of 100."

Another case of the city staff making up its own rules regardless of what the ordinance says.

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What's the Point of This Inspection?

4/5/2013

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This is an inspection report on the rental property one of the prosecuted landlords remodeled for a fellow landlord.  The property got a score of 99.25.  There was NO INTERIOR VIOLATION.  However, the inspector found two exterior violations.  One was an unpainted part of the wood to cover the former doggy door! (photo at bottom.)   Does it affect tenants' safety and health???
Picture
The ordinance says if you get  a score of 85 or higher, you'll pass.  However, the city still makes you repair everything inspectors note.  So essentially you have to get 100!  The only difference is that the landlord doesn't have to pay a re-inspection fee as long as s/he scores 85.

That is just like Garland's original (pre-lawsuit) program.  Richardson's program is more deceptive.  It doesn't say upfront "you have to get 100."

The inspector also noted, 
"Recommended Improvement: accumulation of dirt on the side walk"!!!   (Seriously, I'm not making this up!)


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City Manager Lied? at April 1 Work Session

4/2/2013

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During the April 1 Work Session, the rental registration program was brought up.
Mr. Johnson, City Manager, said "the situations that are now in front of us ... they weren't registered with our program."

One of the prosecuted and tried landlords registered his rental in 2009 in the year he bought it.  He has renewed his registration every year since (while some other landlords didn't register their rentals until 2012).  In fact, the city inspector thanked him by e-mail for renewing his registration in Oct 2012.

The landlord sent an e-mail to Mr. Johnson with the proof of his rental registration since 2009.  He is demanding correction and apology in public.  

Did Mr. Johnson deliberately lie or is he just grossly misinformed by his staff?

Also, during the work session, Mr. Dunn said, "Realtors are somewhat opposed to the program."  Are they only somewhat opposed to it, given that the Metrotex Association of Realtors endorsed Mr. Amir for Mayor, who is opposed to the program?

Mr. Dunn seems to be raising the issue of COs (certificates of occupancy) before tenants move in.  This is the path that Garland went down and got sued over landlords' right against warrantless searches, costing taxpayers $90K!  

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