Pottstown PA rental inspection lawsuit - big win for renters

[Heidi Kloeer]

I was asked to post this for a member of the local landlord group.  More to follow soon:

Pottstown, Penn.—This morning, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued an opinion
vacating and remanding a lower court’s ruling in favor of Pottstown in a
lawsuit challenging the borough’s rental inspection ordinance. This law
allows the borough to enter residents’ homes without cause and without
the residents’ consent. The Court also reversed the trial court’s orders
denying discovery to the Pottstown residents who challenged the law.
This makes sure that as the lawsuit now proceeds on remand, the
residents will have a full record of how these inspections are actually
conducted—and what inspectors actually do once they are inside peoples’
homes.

The Court also rejected the borough’s argument that, in order for the
tenants to challenge the law, residents would have to first submit to
the borough’s invasive rental inspections. After Pottstown tenants
Dottie and Omar Rivera and their longtime landlord, Steve Camburn,
refused to allow inspectors inside their home, Pottstown obtained
administrative warrants to search inside—but with no suspicion that
anything was wrong. The Borough also attempted to search the non-rental
family home of Pottstown residents Thomas, Kathleen, and Rosemarie
O’Connor without their consent and with no search warrant whatsoever.
These brave citizens sued Pottstown with the help of the Institute for Justice (IJ).

“To require Tenants to endure the inspections before challenging the
inspection requirement would render Tenants’ Article I, Section 8
privacy rights illusory,” the Court declared.

“We are thrilled that the Commonwealth Court has recognized the
Pennsylvania Constitution’s strong protections of property rights,” IJ
Attorney Rob Peccola said. “Pottstown’s rental inspections regime is a
way to get around constitutional protections for privacy rights, and we
look forward to litigating this case based on the facts on the ground.”

After the Pottstown residents compile a full record, there will be a
decision on the merits at the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.
This ruling could ensure that every Pennsylvanian who resists a search
of their home can only have the government enter with a warrant
supported by probable cause that something is wrong inside.