Council votes to amend rental housing laws
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 04/07/2009
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The West Lafayette City Council voted Monday in a 4-2 decision to pass an ordinance amending rental housing laws on first reading.
The ordinance was proposed by Councilor Peter Bunder, D-District 2, after a recent overoccupancy lawsuit in which an appellate court found the current ordinance to be vague.
“(This ordinance) moves to address any ambiguity that was found in that decision,” Bunder said. The ordinance includes a section detailing some things a landlord can do to check for overoccupancy, as well as making it necessary for landlords to supply security deposit information.
“I think the most important function of the ordinance will be providing the rental corporations with sufficient instruction to meet their obligation to their tenants under the ordinance,” Bunder said. “What this will do is make it crystal clear to anyone what they need to do.”
Since the ordinance was passed on its first reading, it will now be subjected to work sessions where the public can voice its concerns before being voted on a second time at another City Council meeting.
“This ordinance is not quite done. We have an April 9 work session scheduled for this ordinance,” Mayor John Dennis said. He said this didn’t mean that only one work session would take place, and that more would be likely.
“The whole point is that what we end up supporting is representative of both sides of the issue,” Dennis said. “Clearly that can be done through several work sessions.”