Landlord: Ordinance would help renters' standard of living

Pride in their home, and eventually their neighborhood, is a feeling Jason Coalter believes he can promote among his tenants.

"It works for us to reward our people for taking care of what they have," said Coalter, a partner in Coalter & Felty Investments, which buys neglected property in south Cape Girardeau. Coalter is also the president of the Cape Area Landlord Association, a group that aided the city of Cape Girardeau to write a proposed ordinance that would establish a rental licensing program in Cape Girardeau.

City staff and the association have said the goals of the ordinance are to increase safety for tenants and promote better-kept rental properties. On Sept. 4, the city council tabled passage of the ordinance until some language revisions could be made. A debate between a local board that serves the interests of Realtors, some members of the council and the landlord group has stalled movement until Oct. 1. The board wants language revisions to protect against what it deems potential for liabilities for property managers, and its governmental affairs chairman, Ken Kiefer, said the board believes property values could be hurt by the ordinance as well.

Since 1998, Coalter estimates, his company has bought and improved around 100 houses in the area. The company rents to most every demographic, Coalter said, from college students to low-income families who qualify to receive government assistance for paying rent.

"What we try to do is encourage a higher standard of living," Coalter said. "We try to build them up and show them. It improves their reputation with their peers and as a tenant."

Setting expectations and seeing those met is what he said works to form good tenant-landlord relationships. Communication is key, as is the necessity of upkeep of the company's property.

Coalter wants to see communication and well-kept rentals become the norm citywide with the ordinance that would require landlords to purchase annual licenses to rent property with a cost based on how many units they own and would mandate maintenance of properties. Some provisions for maintenance and cleanliness would be the responsibility of tenants. Others would be the responsibility of a property manager or owner. Inspections of properties by city staff would be based on complaints by a tenant, landlord or other party. Three or more violations of the ordinance could lead to a suspension of the landlord's license, which would mean they could not rent any new units until repairs were made. Penalties could also include a fine of $500 a day and up to three months in the city jail.

Kiefer expects that if the ordinance were to pass with no revisions, property managers would drop out of the business. He said property managers normally have only a small amount of funds to work with from owners when it comes to improvements.

"The way this ordinance can cause that effect is it is unreasonable for property managers to want to continue being property managers," he said. "It would mean money out of their pocket."

Kiefer said many in the local real estate industry who also manage property are conducting those duties for out-of-town owners who, if they were to lose a property manager due to the ordinance's requirements, would place those rental properties up for sale.

"If something in a given area happens that causes people to have to sell their property, then they flood the market, then prices will go down," Kiefer said.

Worse, he said, that situation seems to be what the Cape Area Landlord Association wants.

"They seem to have an ax to grind with property managers," he said. "They are unabashed in their zeal for opportunity."

Coalter admits he knows additional rental property could hit the market as a result of the ordinance, but he disagrees that property values would plummet.

"Others may get a chance to rehab homes," he said. "What would really happen is that there would be a way created for people to have opportunities to make a difference. To make improvements. That's what needs to happen."

At recent council meetings, the Realtors board has been asking for language revisions they say would help designate the correct responsible party in the event of an ordinance violation and clear up a problem they say exists with allowing too much access to private residences. Councilman Trent Summers offered during the last meeting to make revisions before the ordinance goes any further. Not everyone on the council agreed that the revisions should be allowed, since several have already been made and the process for passing the ordinance is becoming lengthy. Council members Mark Lanzotti and Meg Davis Proffer voted against tabling the ordinance. Discussions related to the ordinance have been ongoing since last fall.

"My reason for voting against waiting on the revisions is that this group has come at the eleventh hour of a year-plus-long process, has interjected some complaints regarding the language that are based more on hypotheticals and have tried to, in my opinion, stall implementation for reasons unrelated to their professed concerns," Lanzotti said.

Davis Proffer said she is ready to see the ordinance help solve issues for tenants and landlords and she believes amendments can be made at a later date, if necessary.

Two of Coalter's tenants, Marquilla Moore, who lives on Ellis Street, and Sherrell Ott, who lives on Morgan Oak Street, say they like the idea of the ordinance. Both live in restored houses with children and their husbands and say suitable rental property was not easy to find.

"They need some rules," Ott said. "Some landlords just don't care."

Ott searched for the house she lives in now with her family after a former landlord wouldn't install an air conditioner, even after she offered to buy the unit herself. Moore said she believed more people in her neighborhood would better keep their homes as she does if they faced some consequences for not doing so.

Sikeston, Mo., has had a similar ordinance for upward of 10 years, according to city manager Doug Friend. The inspections, he said, have fostered good relationships with responsible landlords and helped weed out ones who aren't by not allowing a property to be rented until all conditions meet requirements.

Trey Hardy, who oversees inspections as Sikeston's community redevelopment director, also said the ordinance has had a positive effect.

"Landlords are taking better care of their properties, and tenants take more pride," he said. "By now they know what to do. They know what we are looking for."

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO

Morgan Oak Street, Cape Girardeau, MO

South Ellis Street, Cape Girardeau, MO