Toledo Lead Ordinance Update

[Andrew Fidler]

Alright we have had a significant update on the Toledo Lead Paint Ordinance and wanted to post the details for those of us who own property in Toledo (or Ohio, we have several municipalities such as Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati/Dayton who are enacting similar versions once they felt licensing and inspecting was a source of income).

Lucas County Docket Filing 3-19-2018 - Dismissal of ABLE from Case

The lawsuit filed by the Property Investor's Network (PIN) here in Toledo challenged the constitutionality of the lawsuit (there are about 300 pages on the docket with each side arguing their case).

http://lcapps.co.lucas.oh.us/onlinedockets/Docket....

Click on the "Public Documents" link at the top left to see the various filings.

Anyway- so today the judge has made her first ruling on the case...removing ABLE and a lead paint affected tenant from the case. (ABLE and the citizen attempted to join the case as an interested and affected party. Thankfully the judge excluded the emotion from a constitutional lawsuit)

Of note- see pg 8: "Moreover, Jenkins' interest in protecting her son from lead-poisoning is inconsistent with the lead-paint ordinance as written, as the ordinance does not apply to all rental properties in Toledo." (A MAJOR basis for our lawsuit, under Toledo's ordinance properties with over 4-units are exempted from inspection and compliance.)

The response concludes "Finally, time is of the essence here because the deadlines for complying with the lead-paint ordinance are fast-approaching."

This infers we should have a final decisive response from the judge soon. 

Toledo and communities through out Lucas County and Ohio have to grapple with the hazard of lead-paint. Hopefully with the successful conclusion of the lawsuit we can take the discussion to a cooperative mode with all citizens working toward a resolution: landlords both local and out-of-town, tenants and home owners, private industry experts such as @Adam A. and our local government administrators and leaders.

I see far more work ahead by winning than losing...the next step will be in leading the discussion towards a workable solution.

[Andrew Fidler]

Toledo investors and landlords had our day in court today and really the day could not have gone better.

We were awarded our preliminary injunction immediately stopping the enactment of the ordinance...we now have an absolute unequivocal ruling that the City of Toledo cannot carry forward with the threat to fine landlords who don't comply with their ordinance.

This ruling is of course in advance of the Judge's final ruling on the case...for a permanent injunction of the entire ordinance.

Of note - our esteemed Judge awarded our injunction citing validity OF ALL FOUR key justifications of the lawsuit:

- The city of Toledo city council cannot hand over enforcement powers it doesn't possess as a legislative body (the cornerstone of unconstitutionality) over to the Lucas County Health Dept.

- The city failed to have an agreement with the LCHD when they enacted the ordinance (they created one months later when we requested a copy for our lawsuit).

- There is a violation of the equal protection of individuals (landlords) in enforcing this ordinance ONLY on owners 1-4 units and not on all rentals or all homes built before 1978.

- The city fumbled the definition of Owner in their municipal code (we filed the issue in court about a week ago)...anyone who had a utility bill and controlled the property was considered an owner and thus exempt from the ordinance so totally muddying the waters two weeks before implementation was to occur. (The city came to court today assuring the Judge that they were amending the definition of owner in the coming city council meeting this Tuesday...this was pretty much gasoline on the fire)

Conclusion - the lead ordinance is dead in the water and really is just waiting for the final verdict from the Judge. Today's ruling in an absolute sounding of our case...a preliminary injunction isn't given without there being a good chance our our winning. Given that the judge confirmed every argument of our case we are but waiting for the final verdict (which will occur at the Judge's discretion).

I gave an interview to Channel 11 news this afternoon...they said the comment from the City is "no comment". I don't think they were anticipating this. 

Moving Forward: I told the news anchor that investors and landlords have come away from today's ruling relieved that we can no longer be threatened into insolvency. It took the City 5 years to create today's ordinance, investors within our PIN REIA (Property Investor's Network) have been together for two years. We came together cooperatively to fight an ill-aimed and ill-conceived ordinance but we still have a City that needs our leadership and support.

Landlords and investors own 50% of the properties in Toledo. We must never again fail to be at the table when ordinances or program are conceived. I hope we never again need to force things into a lawsuit, it was stressful and expensive for everyone across the city. Really, there we no winners here, we just applied a tourniquet to the losses.

Tomorrow and beyond we must decide how we wish to help develop and improve our city...I thank everyone on this forum who invest in Toledo. We appreciate your participation in our town and hope to continue to bring you value...those of us who are local will endeavor to help develop Toledo into a friendly place to live and grow.

Andrew R Fidler

Vice President, PIN

Owner, Realtor, Property Manager