West Chester Pennsylvania Council Examines Landlord Point System
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WEST CHESTER — Landlords in the borough appealed to Borough Council on Tuesday to repeal the section of the Fair Rental Ordinance that assigns points to landlords based on tenants’ behavior.

“We’re asking for a repeal of the point system based on the vicarious liability of tenant conduct,” said Lee Stivale, an attorney representing the West Chester Apartment Housing Association, a landlord group.

The contentious section of the Fair Rental Ordinance assigns points to landlords if tenants in their buildings are convicted of offenses such as disorderly conduct, alcohol possession or consumption by a minor, drugs, assault and other crimes.

If a landlord receives 10 points in a given 12-month period, his or her rental license can be suspended.
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The issue was discussed at the public safety committee meeting April 8, and the committee voted to recommend to Borough Council that the ordinance not be repealed. No one from the landlord association attended the meeting, although several residents attended and spoke in defense of the ordinance.

Aside from the belief that it is too onerous a burden to place on a landlord, landlords complain, said Stivale, that in some cases “points are being assessed eight months after the conduct.”

Since the points can’t be given to a landlord until the person is found guilty, a tenant accused of an offense can plead not guilty and delay the process by getting continuances. It’s possible the case would not be completely adjudicated until many months later and the tenant could have already moved. If the points are to encourage landlords to deal with unruly tenants, then it has failed and instead is just seen as a punitive measure.

One landlord received points against his license for an incident that occurred in front of one of his buildings but did not involve any of his tenants. “He had to hire an attorney in order to get those points removed,” Stivale said.

Stivale asked why the borough couldn’t return to the former community policing program, whereby the landlords worked closer with the police department to identify problem behavior.

In the early 1990s, said West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn, the department had the Community Policing Unit. Every day, members of the unit would review all the calls of the previous day and break them down by rental address. The five men assigned to the unit would assemble the citations by address, copy them and put the copies in a file created for each rental and contact the landlord. Landlords would come by and pick up the copies and could immediately identify which tenants were a problem.

The program was discontinued a few years ago because of a lack of personnel, said Bohn, but landlords can, like any citizen, ask for a copy of a police report. “If a landlord knows there was an incident at his building, but doesn’t know when, the officer on duty can look in the computer by address and find it.”

Councilwoman Carolyn Comitta asked Stivale if there was an alternative to the point system — another program that would have “teeth” that they could recommend to council.

“I challenge the landlords to come up wtih something that is better,” she said.

“What is here is not working. What do we do to replace it? We haven’t been able to come up with anything except police enforcement. If a kid is creating a nuisance, take him to jail,” said Stivale. “It’s unfair to landlords who get a notice eight months later.”

West Chester Apartment Housing Association President Grant Nelson said, as a landlord, he personally has an interview with every one of his tenants. “Non-students can be just as bad as students.” He has had points assessed against his license. When he hears that a tenant of his has been in trouble, he makes a point of talking to them. “Some people say it’s your property. You need to be at the property 24/7. That’s not realistic,” Nelson said.

Residents who attended the public safety committee meeting were supportive of the ordinance.

“It was a hard-fought ordinance that serves the interests of residents, the borough and the landlords,” said Joe Norley, president of the Historic South Walnut Street Neighborhood Association.

Stephen Bond, a former councilman, said the ordinance was the product of many public meetings and council should vote against any change to it. “If someone has received points incorrectly, it should be looked at,” he said.