Call to Action - Lakeland Investors

[Manny Cirino]

Reposting on behalf of the PCREIA

It has come to our attention that the City of Lakeland is working on a proposed Resolution and Ordinance relating to the registration of residential rental property. Code enforcement will be able to enter your rental property, do interior inspections, require you to list with the City of Lakeland the names of all your tenants and more!...

It is our understanding that this proposal was originally presented because the city code enforcement department expressed that they could not collect fines placed on so called "bad apple landlords" who are multiple code enforcement offenders. So their solution is to make ALL investors who have properties in the city of Lakeland register each of our investment properties so that they can monitor/inspect/and regulate them.

Please note: if you do not have properties in the city of Lakeland--Please support this CALL TO ACTION because once it is passed in Lakeland, all municipalities will be looking to adopt it....It WILL affect all rental properties in Polk County.

to see the latest draft of the

proposed ordinance and resolution

Here are just a few tidbits of what you will see in the draft proposal of the ordinance and resolution:

1) They will "require that we provide the city with a list of the names of all tenants in each unit"

2) They will "require that the owner agrees to allow inspection of the interior and exterior of the unit at any reasonable time..." and they can even enter your property with something called "an administrative search warrant"...what the heck is an administrative search warrant? Is code enforcement now going to be allowed to create a search warrant and enter any property they want?

3) They require that the owner or designated property manager be available and can be contacted 24 hrs per day, 7 days per week regarding the rental unit

4) They can deny issuance of or revoke your registration application so that you cannot rent your property

5) The fee for one unit starts at $100 per unit per year and can go up to $2000 per unit if you ever have code citations...please see the fee schedule.....

These type of regulations have a way of "growing". In other words, we have seen first hand in other areas in Florida and out of state where once a seemingly non threatening rental property registration was in place-- over a period of time, they inevitably increased the regulations until the fees and challenges of meeting their regulations just became impossible. One area has all rental properties inspected every time there is a change in the electric service on the units.

In fact...when this proposal in Lakeland was first drafted they were proposing "drive-by" inspections every 4 years then it went to a more recent draft that stated a required "drive-by" inspection every 3 years--and now today, we have already escalated to being required to allow "interior and exterior inspections" and we haven't even gotten it out of the draft stage! What is next?

Comments should be made today--we ask this because although it is not on the agenda for the next City Commission meeting (Sept 19) we have learned that they are working hard to get the drafts completed immediately so they can put this in their upcoming budget meeting and get the funds allocated immediately! This is moving along quickly, folks..

We have provided you with a few talking points below these addresses to inspire you to email today.

1. Go to the Talking Points area in this email and copy the text you would like to use in the email

2. then go to the email addresses below -- click on the email address and paste the comments you copied into your email -- you can then change the wording, add your own thoughts etc

3. send the email...send a copy of that email to every one on this list or create new emails to each of them.

ACT TODAYACT NOW

Talking Points You can use in your emails or phone calls:

I am a business owner and a real estate professional in Polk County. I share the city's goal of eliminating "blight" within our residential neighborhoods. These goals will keep our city properties secure and continuing to increase in value.

However, I am concerned about the proposed rental property registration ordinance you are considering here in Lakeland.

or you could say :

Adding more regulations in the form of your proposed rental property registration on top of what you already have in place is not the way to reach these goals...

here are some more things you might want to say:

• I do not feel adding another layer of regulation will solve the problem of repeat code enforcement violation offenders
• This type of additional regulation is unfair to the upstanding landlords in the city of Lakeland--we are all going to be punished for the sins of a few
• Requiring all owners/property managers to be available to code enforcement 24 hrs a day/7 days per week is unreasonable and unacceptable. We could get fined if we are not available 24/7?
• According to your proposal Sec 18-14 (a) 3 says that the "owner agrees to allow inspection of the interior and exterior of the unit at any reasonable time, provided however, that nothing in this provision shall be construed as authorizing the City to conduct an inspection of an occupied unit without first obtaining either consent of the occupant OR an administrative search warrant" Please explain: what is the definition of "reasonable time"? And what is an "administrative search warrant"? This whole section is an --uncalled for-- intrusion of our properties and an invasion of privacy. And it is all based on what?
• The City Commissioners are setting up the City of Lakeland and rental property owners for possible lawsuits. In a case in Ohio, the Federal Court ruled that rental inspections were unconstitutional. See Baker vs City of Portsmouth
• This type of regulation will present new administrative, workforce and financial burdens for the city and the providers of rental housing within Lakeland when you have other choices as to how you can collect these code enforcement liens--see how the County presently does it along with other local municipalities like Winter Haven.
• My costs for providing affordable, quality housing for the local workforce and low-income residents has been steadily going higher and higher. New fees and redundant regulation will only make things harder for property owners like me.
• Requiring us to provide the City of Lakeland with the names of all the tenants in every unit that we or our clients own is not only an invasion of their privacy but will be a record keeping nightmare for both the City and for us.
• What due diligence have you done to make sure there are not other ways to collect fines against repeat offenders? There are other municipalities that have found ways to collect these fines without this type of regulation/registration ie: Polk County simply attaches a non ad valorem assessment to the property taxes.
• Several of the sections in this proposal are already covered under your code enforcement regulations--cod
• You must consider that the folks most impacted will be the tenants of the city of Lakeland as the Landlords will have to raise the rents to compensate for the unknown potential costs of these new regulations
• Because it has been stated in your meetings that you are proposing this ordinance and resolution based on the number of non compliant repeat code enforcement offenders, I am formally requesting a list of all of these repeat offenders you are basing this proposal on. If this ordinance is going to cause me to have to comply with such strict guidelines, I want an accounting of exactly who these offenders are before this is approved.
• Please consider my comments regarding this issue and look for other ways to solve the challenges you face with repeat landlord code enforcement offenders.

CUT AND PASTE --ADD OR SUBTRACT-- But send something today, please.

Also forward this to everyone on your email list--even if they do not have property in the City of Lakeland--what we all need to be concerned about is that once it is passed here--other area municipalities will follow suit. So please let's support each other now and send your opinions today.

You can also show up at the meetings and let the City Commissioners know how you feel. Here are the dates of the upcoming meetings at city hall in Lakeland: find the dates and address for the meeting here