Village aims to control rentals

Wellington· Landlords with peeling paint, uncut grass or trash in their yards might have to clean up their act.

Over protests from some real estate agents and landlords Tuesday night, the Village Council voted to move ahead with an ordinance that would make it easier for the village to force landlords to bring their rental homes up to snuff.

"I wanted to open up an opportunity to discuss an issue I think is at the tipping point here," said Councilman Robert Margolis, who pushed for the new rule and said he gets complaints about shabby rental homes every week. "We need to do something now. Or our property values will decrease."

The ordinance will be heard twice more by the council before being approved.

Homeowners spoke in favor of the new rule, saying something needed to be done about rental homes that don't stack up to the village's strict code.

"I've seen a depreciation of rental properties simply because of the lack of interest of the renters and the apathy of the absentee landlords," resident Paul Razza said. "Now is the time and place to enforce these rules."

But a handful of landlords and the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches opposed the ordinance, saying it infringed on private property rights and duplicated the village's code enforcement efforts.

"Why do we need another law on the books instead of enforcing the code enforcement we already have?" said Julio Galvez, who owns one rental home in Wellington. "Putting another law on the books isn't going to solve the problem."

The ordinance would require rental homes -- including apartments, townhomes and group homes -- to be licensed and inspected annually. Landlords would pay $175 for the inspection and the license, and out-of-town landlords would have to have a local representative to handle any problems.

"When there's a problem, we have the name and the phone number," said Paul Schofield, village director of community services. "We get a more accountable group of landlords."

The council asked staff to look into possible legal problems with the ordinance. But members said they thought the village needed a way to deal with rental homes.

"I think it's necessary we have some kind of a hammer for areas in our community, where it's not owner-occupied and the tenant doesn't have the same pride of ownership as a homeowner," said Councilwoman Laurie Cohen.