Landlord & Tenant: City Rental Registration Program Put on Hold Until September.

Posted By Cliff Tuttle | March 31, 2009

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

For residential landlords in the City, tomorrow was supposed to be a big deadline.

On April 1, the Residential Housing Rental Permit Program was scheduled to begin and any properties that had not been registered before then would be subject to large fines. The primary purpose of the Permit Program is to assess landlords for disorderly actions committed in their rental properties under an Ordinance passed by City Council in 2007 but not yet implemented. In order to do this, the City felt it was necessary to have a complete up-to-date inventory of all of the residential rental properties in the City. We covered the Permit Program and the Disorderly Property Ordinance in prior posts in Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk.

However, various landlord organizations, including Apartment Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh, Landlord Services Bureau and American Congress on Real Estate of Pittsburgh filed several suits challenging the Ordinance that created the Program and seeking to enjoin its enforcement.

After some testimony had been taken, the Plaintiffs in these suits obtained a consent order for the purpose of giving the parties time to work out a settlement with the City. Under the consent order, signed by Judge Joseph James on March 19, enforcement is suspended until September or further order of court.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette gave this development de minimis coverage in the City Neighborhood Section, ensuring that landlords who live outside the City would be kept in the dark. Since it is not considered newsworthy elsewhere, we’ll try to keep an eye on the docket and keep in touch with the trial counsel in the case.

CLT

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CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

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