Winchester officials looking for voters to pass housing ordinance

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — Local officials want the rental properties in their town to be safe for residents, and they’re supporting a proposed ordinance they say would help them accomplish this.
Several residents who weighed in on the proposal at the town’s deliberative session on Feb. 7 said they agree the welfare of their neighbors is important. However, one man also said he was concerned the cost of regularly inspecting more than 500 rental properties would be greater than town officials are projecting.

“I just can’t see how this is not going to result in at least another full-time employee,” resident and property owner Kenneth A. Cole told The Sentinel Monday, adding to his remarks from the Feb. 7 session.

Town officials have undertaken a worthy effort to establish and enact the ordinance, he said, but he’s “pretty sure” it’s going to be more costly to the town than the selectmen and planning board members believe.

Officials say it would require more hours for a part-time inspector, but those would be offset by new inspection fees.

The ordinance, if passed, allows for town officials to inspect rental properties biannually to make sure they’re in compliance, and requires landlords to fix any problems. If a building or apartment unit doesn’t pass the initial inspection, another one would be required a year later until the problems are fixed, according to the proposed ordinance.

After the initial inspection cycle, no landlord could rent a property without the town issuing a permit saying the dwelling is in compliance, said Margaret A. Sharra, the town’s land use administrator and code enforcement officer.

Landlords would be required to pay $35 for the inspection of one unit, and $50 for a house, according to the ordinance. Inspection of each additional dwelling unit would cost $20.

Re-inspection fees would start at $15 per unit for the first time, $35 per unit for the second time and increase for each additional inspection after that, Sharra said.

At present, town officials enter a rental property only if they’re allowed to by the tenant or landlord, and it’s usually after the tenant or the landlord asks them to come out to the property to check something, she said.

Town policy also allows for local officials to inspect a dwelling if the person or family living there is receiving assistance from the town, she said.

To accommodate the additional inspections, an inspector position would be increased from 16 to 32 hours a week, she said. The newly generated inspection fees would pay for those added hours, she said.

Sharra said Saturday there is a need for the ordinance based on what she, the building inspector, health officer, fire chief, police chief and welfare officer have seen while inspecting houses and apartments being rented.

What they’ve spotted are illegal heating setups, undisclosed lead paint, leaking roofs, substandard plumbing, stairwells in poor condition and a lack of fire and carbon monoxide alarms, she said.

“We find that most tenants and landlords don’t realize what a code-compliant property is,” she said. “We have to make sure people are living in decent housing.”

At its root, this is a code enforcement issue, Sharra said, but the goal, if the ordinance goes into effect, would be to educate landlords and tenants.

“Right now the town of Winchester has over 542 rental units in town, that we know of,” she said. “That’s over 31 percent of the housing stock.”

Most of those buildings were constructed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and have one or more life-safety code violations, Sharra said.

If the new ordinance passes, town officials would still need permission from landlords and tenants to enter properties to inspect them, according to Sharra, who is also a local landlord.

If they refuse, town officials could enter the site only after getting an administrative order to do so from the court, she said.

“In the worst-case scenario, a landlord may deny access or disagree with the town. We could end up in court, but I don’t see that as the norm by any means,” she said.

Despite resident Cole’s concerns, the proposed ordinance has already garnered support among townspeople.

The Winchester Board of Selectmen has unanimously recommended voters approve the ordinance at town meeting on March 10.

The ordinance gets people thinking, and raises awareness about the health and safety issues many of the town’s residents face, Selectman Sherman Tedford said at the deliberative session.

Resident Barry Montgomery, a real estate developer, also spoke in favor of the ordinance, saying “inspectors are us builders’ friends.”

Sharra said Monday she had been working on drafting the ordinance for more than a year and a half, and its content is a combination of housing standards already in place in New Hampshire communities including Keene, Claremont, Durham, Manchester and Pittsfield. Pittsfield’s ordinance has been in place since 1966, she said.

Besides striving to provide safe living quarters for tenants, the ordinance would also benefit landlords, she said.

The permit gives landlords documentation of their properties being in compliance, she said, and that can be helpful if tenants dispute the dwelling units’ conditions.

If voters at town meeting pass the ordinance, it wouldn’t go into effect until Sept. 1, she said. This would give landlords and tenants time to get their properties in compliance, she said.

If passed, a copy of the ordinance and list of what inspectors will be looking for would be included in the June tax bills, she said.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

Guess it must be time to hire another Sharra.
The town doesn't need an ordinance, it's already documented who rents property and tenants and landlords should already know about their rights under the law. . If not then here's link that's available to all for free ...

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/overview-landlord-tenant-laws-new-hampshire.html


The Land Use Administrator/Code Enforcement Officer could simply make sure all landlords and tenants know about the their rights under the law by simply providing them this link. We don't need another full time position/employee, it's totally unnecessary