Craig Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

"If a landlord's tenant or tenant's guest starts breaking the law, he cannot
call the police for removal."

This is a misleading statement.  If a tenant or tenant's guess is breaking
the law, anyone, including the landlord--can call the police.  No, we can't
_evict_ a person for you.  A tenant, depending on the crime and situation
can be arrested,  and possibly taken to jail (removed for an indeterminate
time).  A guest, depending on the circumstances, might be able to be
trespassed, which means they are removed and cannot return for 90 days.

"The landlords are being held to the same standard as the other licensed
entities but they do not have the same tools."

I'm glad to read that you feel they are held to the same standard.  I hope
you can agree that it is an appropriately high standard.

But the nature of the business is different so there are different tools to
manage it and especially to prevent trouble.  While a bar doesn't have to
live with the same unruly customer for "thirty days plus one" (generally how
long a moderately disruptive tenant is allowed to stay before having to
move), a rental property owner can reduce the likelihood they'd have to
confront unacceptable behavior by checking an applicant's criminal history.
Bar owners do not have that tool available to them (although with electronic
ID checking and many counties posting convictions in court on-line, perhaps
it is not far off?).

Incidentally the Strib headline was a bit misleading too, from memory
"Rental licensing lets down some tenants."  In some of the cases cited, it
was clear that the city had inspected and had issued orders; in those cases
it is the owner who let down the tenant.  The owner who stayed ahead of the
game (if you want to call it a game), Paul Kjornes, seemed to have the
priorities right--he *asked* for an inspection before subjecting new tenants
to code violations & hazardous conditions.  (Very biased disclaimer:  I've
confabbed with Kjornes since he heads the owners group in my neighborhood;
he assembles several speakers  on a wide variety of topics related to rental
property management for his meetings.  Although he can bemoan his grievances
against the city with the finest wailers, his philosophy is to not blame
rental licensing for the end results of fundamentally poor property
management, and puts his money where his mouth is in helping raise the
quality of rental property in the city.)

CPS  Luther Krueger  673-2923  mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Minneapolis Police Department, Downtown Command SAFE
(Lyndale, 8th Ward)
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