Mark,
Sure, no problem. The Kangaroo Court hearing is March 24 at 9:30 am at the PSC. But I would not waste my time coming to this hearing because these are a joke. The hearing officers (who claim to be attorneys) are hired by the inspections department to supposedly hear the evidence and give an impartial verdict, but all that they do is "rubber stamp" the assessment. So what happens is after it is assessed, I file an appeal in District Court, where I have never lost a case on the merits in these types of assessments. If you want, anf if I remember, I will let you know when I make my summary judgment motion to have this and any others dismissed for the 2005 calendar year. This will not happen until mid 2006 at the earliest.
But back again to the ordinance. According to your logic, any time a rental property owner of single family homes has a vacancy (and we all have plenty), we are expected to notify the inspections department and pay $400 once the vacancy hits the 5 day threshold. So if a tenant moves out on the 15th of the month, and I have it rented for the 1st of the following month, I would still have to notify inspections and send them a check for $400. Again get real!
Steve Meldahl
Jordan (work)
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Snyder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Minneapolis Issues Forum" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 10:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Mpls] Minneapolis Inspections
On 3/9/05 7:30 AM, "steven meldahl" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Lets get "real". We have the highest vacancy rates in Minneapolis in my 35
years in business. I have 6 vacant houses that have been sitting vacant for
between 1 and 3 months. I have my rental licenses on all of them. So are
you saying that I should also notify the City because the rental market is
so soft and register these remodeled houses and pay the $400 because I can
not get them rented?? In essence this is double taxation because I still am
paying the exorbitant taxes on them. Are you also saying that because
someone is not sleeping at a house that we are working on 6 days a week
between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm, that we should also pay the $400? Again
"get real".
Yes, let's get real.
Here's the situation as I see it. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
There is a city ordinance requiring registration of vacant houses.
You violated it and got cited by Minneapolis Inspections.
Now you're pissed at Minneapolis Inspections because they did their job, which is to enforce city ordinances and cite property owners who violate them, even when the property owner thinks it's a dumb ordinance.
Have I got that right? If so, I hope you'll keep us posted on when your court hearing is because I would love to be there to see what kind of reaction you get from the judge when you plead not guilty by reason of the ordinance being dumb. I'll bet that would be worth the vacation time I'd have to take.
Again, if you think the ordinance is dumb, then get together with your
fellow landlords and property rights activists and work to change the
ordinance. But please don't expect the rest of us to feel sorry for the fact
that you got cited. I kind of doubt there are very many of us who want an
Inspections Department that looks the other way whenever a property owner
chooses to ignore ordinances they disagree with, whether it's a landlord or
a homeowner.
As to the merits of the ordinance itself, I have mixed feelings. I can see
the value in registering vacant residential buildings, especially the part
about having a plan and timetable for getting the building up to code and
occupied again. Otherwise, it's too easy for vultures or wannabe landlords
to come in and buy an abandoned property on the cheap and have it end up
sitting vacant indefinitely while they wait for the market to change or get
their act together and actually fix up the property.
However, I have to admit that I'm curious about the $400 registration fee and I'd personally like to know more about just what that pays for. If I recall correctly, reinspection fees are only $100 when someone fails to address a citation, so I'm wondering how much more actual work is involved with tracking these vacant buildings?
Mark Snyder Windom Park
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