Orange Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, Jr. urges NJ Legislature to defeat “slumlord protection” proposal.  Says pending legislation will weaken tenant protections and enable bad landlords to provide unsafe and unsanitary housing

Statement by Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, Jr.

“Spearheaded by the landlord lobby, a bill, S-2795. is working its way through the legislature that would eliminate the present ability of cities to conduct annual housing inspections that protect tenants from unsafe and unsanitary conditions. The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee has already approved the proposal. Together with my fellow urban mayors and the New Jersey League of Municipalities, I urge Senators to vote NO on this measure.

Under existing law, the State of New Jersey inspects apartments only once every five years. Cities have the option to conduct annual inspections and to require apartment house owners to register their apartments.

The NJ Hotel and Multiple Dwelling Law, enacted more than 40 years ago, gave New Jersey municipalities the option of annual inspections because urban tenants are often victimized by predatory slumlords who collect rents with no intention of properly maintaining their buildings or by inexperienced/ undercapitalized property owners who lack the funds or knowledge to keep up their buildings as required by law. Eliminating annual housing inspections will protect bad landlords and make it easier for them to allow unsafe and unsanitary conditions in their buildings.

This is not a new problem. For nearly 150 years, American cities have set and enforced standards for the construction and maintenance of multiple dwellings.

While most landlords conscientiously maintain their buildings, bad landlords are concentrated in cities, especially in the poorest and most deteriorated neighborhoods. While renters always have the ability to contact local or State housing officials to complain about dangerous conditions, those who are elderly, disabled, uneducated, low income, or have difficulty speaking English often do not speak up. They fear retaliation or eviction. Many are unaware of their rights or don‘t even know who to contact with a complaint.

In Orange, our annual inspections protect tenants by assuring all rental properties are maintained in safe and sanitary conditions. In this recession, we have a growing problem of foreclosures, which leads directly to lack of maintenance. We also have a growing immigrant population reluctant to report unsafe and unsanitary conditions to municipal authorities.

Every family deserves quality, safe and sanitary housing. Eliminating annual inspections would be harmful to urban renters at any time, but it is a particularly bad idea in a national financial crisis when housing deterioration is on the rise.”