If municipal garbage is collected from residential units and multiple family units up to triplexes or whatever it is today, why are we concerned with a building inspector entering the property to verify? Could it be that the only thing in the balance isn’t just garbage? What could be so important that a property owner does not want the code enforcement officer or a building inspector to verify the number of units on a property?
Maybe it could be as easy as four unit buildings are assessed for more taxes than three units. Certainly 5 or 6 units are worth more than a duplex. The garbage fee and property taxes are without a doubt an issue but consider what else could hang in the balance and it’s not a yearly fee from the borough. Don’t forget the cost of contracting a garbage company to come and give you a dumpster and pick it up weekly, or twice a week if there is a lot of garbage and you don’t want to purchase a bigger dumpster. What would a property owner do if the building inspector found a four unit building with a 3 unit occupancy permit? How many square feet are needed for an approved unit?
Slum lords try to pack a lot of people into a small space so they play loose with the definition of a “unit”. Units without bathrooms or kitchens are common in these types of places, they even have a name for them, they are called rooming houses. Unless of course the landlord is selling them as a personal care home. A lot of people who try to fly under the radar look for housing that really doesn’t meet the definition of “unit”.
People who have outstanding warrants look for apartments that aren’t really easy to find. Apartments that don’t have Unit 1, or Unit 10 on the door are harder to find, like 123 Main Street 3rd floor right rear. Police have a harder time finding it, informants have a hard time describing it and landlords find it easy to deny it exists. Unless an informed person sees locks on some doors but open bath room doors.
These types of places are very profitable because the rent is usually cash and the price per square foot of space for a 12 X 12 foot room is more than the average legal size apartment. Building inspectors know that 6 living spaces in a previously registered 3 unit building is not only a violation of garbage collection laws but a significant safety violation.
I’ll bet you wouldn’t believe that some property owners allow the use and even sell their addresses for people to use for everything from stolen credit card sales deliveries to registering out of town children to go to school. I’ll bet you didn’t know that some apartments are rented to large families of transient people who don’t send their kids to school because they don’t want to be found.
With all of the bad things that can occur with housing by slum landlords why should we care that a landlord who wants to prove how many units they have in a building are afraid of a building inspector finding a violation. Shouldn’t we want violations to be identified? Isn’t it in our best interest as property owners to have a small issue identified rather than allow a slum landlord to exist?
If you are trying to figure out if we should worry about our building inspectors, code enforcement officers or police officers coming into our houses don’t they are all good people. What you are being fed is garbage, don’t eat it.
