Officials in Cape work to address substandard buildings

In the past year, Cape Girardeau sent four letters to property owners directing them to carry out essential repairs to make their buildings safe.

Of the four, two involved structures that house no apartments or businesses -- a garage on South Frederick Street that has since been torn down and the vacant commercial building at 633 Broadway. The order on the latter building was issued after a wall collapsed at 625 Broadway and inspectors directed owner Guy Tomasino to repair a bowed wall immediately. Tomasino didn't respond to the letter and has been issued a summons to appear in municipal court.

Only two of the letters were directed at landlords who rent dwellings. Both were based on complaints from the tenants, who must sign their names to the complaint before the city will act, said Tim Morgan, director of the inspections office. Anyone may make a complaint, not just tenants, but the city won't act unless the person making the complaint is willing to sign their name.

"The reason for that is we get numerous calls about things like that, and people don't want to give their name and someone has to be there to let us in," Morgan said.

Ensuring standards

In May, at a meeting with landlords, the discussion turned to a regular inspection program that would try to review every rental unit in the city on a rotating basis. After researching the issue, Morgan said he determined it would take a dedicated staff of two inspectors and a clerical worker to handle the load based on estimates of 2,500 rental dwellings, a number he acknowledges is low.

"It wouldn't surprise me if we had three times that many," Morgan said.

The letters tell the landlords to meet "minimum property standards," which means to make the repairs necessary to provide a safe, sanitary place to live or do business.

Those directives, from the Inspection Services office, are in addition to the 40 letters to property owners directing them to demolish their buildings or make all the repairs necessary to bring their buildings up to current code standards. Those orders, commonly called condemnations, generally are issued after a fire or when a building becomes so obviously run down that modest repairs won't remedy problems.

"When it comes to the point where he can't get something done, we move to condemnation," Steve Williams, housing coordinator for the city's Planning Services Department, said of Morgan's inspections office. Williams also tracks condemnations and whether the property owners are taking steps to comply with the orders. In most cases, especially after a fire, promises to repair the building are made and kept, he said.

Owners are given deadlines to meet and a process takes place that, when necessary, can extend those deadlines because of difficult negotiations with insurance companies or other delays. There are currently 18 active condemnation orders in the city and most properties are being repaired, Williams said.

"We are interested in, No. 1, getting the property repaired and back in service or, No. 2, getting the building demolished, the lot cleaned up and the neighborhood back in livable condition," he said.

A system of regular rental inspections would be too costly for the city to begin as it struggles to keep its budget balanced in the face of flat tax collections, Morgan said.

Supporting inspections

But Janice King, who signed a complaint about her apartment at 102 S. Park Ave., said a regular inspection program would force landlords to stop ignoring necessary repairs. The city sent an inspector in January, and owner Gerald Stott was directed to fix a broken hot water system, repair the loose faucet on the kitchen sink and eliminate a foul smell coming from the basement.

She now has hot water, King said, but the faucet isn't fixed and the odor is still strong every time it rains. There has been no follow-up inspection, she said.

King said she wasn't worried about possible retribution from the landlord after she signed the complaint. "It don't make sense -- you pay money and you don't get anything. It is bad in here."

The floor of the bathroom sags under the weight of a person. The same is true in the apartment next door where Carole Moore lives. The toilet tilts to the left, and the bathtub sinks slightly as it fills with water. There is always a wet spot on the floor, Moore said.

Moore said she's made complaints to the city on other apartments. The result was she was evicted. "I did that before to my other landlord and he threw my stuff out on the street," Moore said.

A city inspection program would require landlords to file a list of their rental units with the city and secure an occupancy permit that shows it meets minimum standards, Morgan said. He's researched other cities, and most that perform regular inspections work on a two- to four-year inspection cycle."

"I really think it would be a good idea," Moore said of regular inspections.

Landlord's perspective

But her landlord disagrees. Stott said he recently fired the property management firm that was handling his rental buildings -- he owns eight, he said -- because the company was lax in its collection of past due rent. He also said he was told by the management firm that all the city-required repairs had been made.

The city is well served by the current system, Stott said. "If the property is not what it should be, the renters can call up the city and they will come out to inspect it."

Tenants who don't keep up with their rent payments make it difficult to afford repairs, Stott said.

And many necessary repairs are the result of tenant-caused damage, he said. "The last couple of years have been really bad," Stott said. "People move in and don't pay a dime and tear the place up and you finally get them out and you have to go in and do all kinds of work to repair what they have done."

The trade-off of an inspection program would be higher rents, Stott said.

"It's a two-way street," he said. "Renters always feel like landlords [are] giving them the shaft and we feel like renters are giving us the shaft."

rkeller@semissourian.com

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Pertinent addresses:

225 S. Middle St., Cape Girardeau, MO

519 S. Pacific St., Cape Girardeau, MO

525 Louis St., Cape Girardeau, MO

1120 S. Ranney Ave., Cape Girardeau, MO

522 Rear S. Ellis St., Cape Girardeau, MO

1004 Hickory St., Cape Girardeau, MO

415 S. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO

416 N. Frederick St., Cape Girardeau, MO

516 N. Middle St., Cape Girardeau, MO

402 Chelsey Drive., Cape Girardeau, MO

507 S. Frederick St., Cape Girardeau, MO

523 N. Middle St., Cape Girardeau, MO

319 S. Middle St., Cape Girardeau, MO

141 S. Louisiana Ave., Cape Girardeau, MO

2550 Masters Drive., Cape Girardeau, MO

2312 Lombardo Drive., Cape Girardeau, MO

621 Broadway., Cape Girardeau, MO

422 Good Hope St., Cape Girardeau, MO

102 N. Park Ave. No. 3., Cape Girardeau, MO

633 Broadway., Cape Girardeau, MO

1927 N. Kingshighway Lot 48., Cape Girardeau, MO