The Neighbors of “Glassport“ 10 Things You and Your Neighbors Can Do! Part 5 #5: COMMUNICATE WITH ABSENTEE PROPERTY OWNERS AND LANDLORDS ♦ Your rights as a neighbor As a resident of your neighborhood, you have the right to peace and security. Your family has the right to come and go from your property without the threat of violence. If you neighbor is disturbing you, contact the neighbor about the problem or contact the owner of the property. If that fails, you can call the police and ask them to intervene to stop the problem. ♦ Absentee owners Some people who own property in your neighborhood may not live there. Investors often buy homes and rent them out. These “absentee” property owners may not know what is going on at their property. A very important task one person can accomplish is to locate neighborhood property owners, contact them and tell them what is going on in the neighborhood and on their property. ♦ Supportive owners Most absentee owners care about their investments in your neighborhood. As the quality of life improves in the neighborhood, the value of their property also will increase. Conversely, the value of property drops if it is being used for illegal activity. If you tell absentee owners about drug problems or illegal activity on their property, they may act immediately to end the problem. Landlords who monitor what happens on their property can be a powerful force in a neighborhood clean-up campaign. ♦ Non-supportive owners Unfortunately, some property owners do not intervene to protect their property. Property owners fail to supervise their tenants for a variety of reasons: * The owner may live out of town and not aware of the problem * The property management company may not bother to monitor behavior * The property may be owned by corporations, trusts, or legal entities that move around on paper without ever knowing where or what the property is * The owner may be physically or financially unable to care for the property * The owner may know what is going on but be too fearful to intervene A non-supportive absentee owner may be a problem, but you can motivate non-supportive owners to correct the problems on their property ♦ How to find an absentee property owner You can find out who owns the problem property by telephoning the county assessor’s office and asking them. Property ownership is public information and you have the right to know who owns what property. ♦ The Allegheny County Office of Property Assessments County Office Building 542 Forbes Avenue Third Floor Dot Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Public Information Line: (412) 350-4600 ♦ The Allegheny County Office of Property Assessments Public Information website You can also look up the property & owner at The Allegheny County Office of Property Assessments Public Information website www2.county.allegheny.pa.us/RealEstate/Search.aspx ♦ Ask the owner to help Your first contact with the owner should be polite and you should clearly state your concerns. Tell the owner what is going on and ask them to help stop the problem. Although you may be angry with the owner, remember that she or he has the power to solve the problem. Approach the owner as a friend, and they may help you. ♦ How to communicate with an absentee property owner Once you get the name and address of the property owner, try to telephone them if you can get the phone number from the directory. If you cannot telephone them, send them a letter. Whether you contact them by telephone or write them, the purpose is the same: tell them what is going on at their property, and ask them to correct the problem. When you telephone the absentee landlord, make a written record of the date, time and context of the conversation. If you send the landlord a letter send it by certified mail and keep a copy of what you send him/her. Later, you may need to prove that you told him/her of the problems the neighborhood is having with his tenant. ♦ “Motivating” an absentee owner to intervene If the owner is not responsive to your request, you have considerable power to force them to comply. You can turn to several sources to help motivate the owner to correct the problem. These include: • Local Law Enforcement • The Borough mayors office • Borough Council Members • The borough Code Enforcement officer • Allegheny County District Attorney • Allegheny County Health Department ♦ Small Claims Court One of the most powerful resources you have is small claims court. You can sue an unsupportive property owner for allowing behavior to occur on their property that causes you pain and suffering. In Pennsylvania, you can sue in small claims court for up to $8,000 to $12,000 in damages. If you take a landlord to small claims court, you will need to show that you told the landlord of the problems and that nothing was done to correct them. This is where a journal of the problems and documentation of correspondence with the landlord is needed. Additional pressure can be brought to bear on an uncooperative landlord if neighbors join together and file a joint suit. Additional information may be obtained through the Small Claims Court. Magisterial District Judge Armand Martin 1 Allegheny Sq, Glassport, PA 15045 (412) 673-0864
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 09:35:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015