Proposed ordinance to raise rental housing inspection fees

By Heather Mangold
City Editor

The West Lafayette City Council will hold committee hearings to acknowledge public input for an ordinance that would raise fees for inspections in rental homes.

Landlords are now required to pay a fee every two years for inspections of their rental properties throughout West Lafayette. With the proposed ordinance, landlords would be required to pay a higher fee, every year. The increase in rental inspection fee costs poses the threat that rent could rise for students when landlords pass the costs on to them.

Council member Brad Windler said that rental costs are a matter of supply and demand.

"Purdue has said they are going to hold enrollment and as of January we are building 2,200 new apartments," said Windler. "This would be increasing supply but holding demand."

While Windler feels that rents are controlled by supply and demand, some citizens feel as though the new ordinance could be an added concern for rising costs.

Bill Zobrist is a concerned landlord of West Lafayette and Lafayette.

If the ordinance was passed, Zobrist said he would go from paying approximately $400 to $450 every two years to paying $800 to $900 every year.

"If they pass this I will have to pass as much of this (the cost) along to my renters as I can," said Zobrist.

Zobrist said he feels as though the city is rushing into judgement.

Windler said the council wanted to hold hearings for this ordinance soon so that student input would be included.

"The council could have proposed this ordinance over the summer when students were gone, but we wanted them to know why we were doing this," said Windler.

Kyle Kasting, a member of Purdue Student Government, said that he was disappointed that Windler voted in favor of the ordinance on its first reading, even though students strongly opposed it.

"He ignored his constituents and he's done that in the past," said Kasting.

The city is trying to get rid of the single-family rental units in neighborhoods and by that getting students out of their neighborhoods, said Kasting.

"I would say, if I was a student, I would be mad as hell at Brad Windler," said Zobrist.

Windler said that the ordinance would ensure a supply of quality rentals for students and that with it, students would have a new outlet to go to if they ever had problems with their landlords.

"I understand the concerns of people that are worried about rents going up," said Windler. "But nobody in West Lafayette, even if this ordinance was not on the table, could honestly expect rents to go down."

The ordinance is a product of the growing number of students in the West Lafayette area.

Mayor Sonya Margerum said an increase in the number of dwellings is what will lower rent costs. She said that if passed, the higher fees would only affect 14 percent of the housing in West Lafayette and if total costs within the ordinance were passed, it would raise rent by roughly $3 per month.

Another concern expressed by landlords is that the ordinance attacks smaller housing facilities, while large apartment complexes would not be affected. Zobrist said that in a three-unit building he would pay slightly less than an owner of a 16-unit building would.

"My contention is that it should be per unit," said Zobrist. "They are targeting the smaller individuals and not the bigger units."

Margerum confirmed that the ordinance was focused on owners of converted housing.

"It's important to realize that the purpose of this is to improve the code enforcement program and that 90 percent of problems are caused in the converted housing and that it is not the large apartment complexes in which we are having problems," said Margerum.

These problems include overcrowding, noise and trash created by members of the community living in rental properties, including students. Zobrist said one of the main problems concerning housing is overcrowding. According to the ordinance, over-occupancy of rental housing is an increasing problem, with percentage of over-occupancy between 20 percent and 40 percent in some areas.

Proposed ordinance to raise rental housing inspection fees

CITY DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111 ext. 250

City editor:
Heather Mangold

To send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org

Purdue Exponent 2001