Somerville tackles absentee landlord issues

Tackling the oft discussed absentee landlord issue, the Somerville Board of Aldermen recently passed a resolution that will make it more difficult for the city's next mayor to ignore absentee landlord problems.

Nearly one third of Somerville properties are owned by absentee landlords -landlords who do not live in the building that they rent. The Board of Alderman hopes to create an absentee landlord task force that will solve problems created by this distance between landlords and tenants.

Most Tufts students seeking off-campus housing will are likely find absentee landlords. The Medford fire that took the life of then-Tufts junior Wendy Carman last January was in a house owned by an absentee landlord. Despite calls for legislative action from the mayors of Somerville and Medford, until now, no significant legislation aimed at landlords was created.

According to the resolution, the Aldermen will not confirm any mayoral appointments until the task force is formed. "The new legislation sends a message to the administration that the city needs to take an aggressive stance against this problem," Alderman John Connolly said.

Issues associated with absentee landlords largely concern health and safety violations stemming from both careless tenants and negligent landlords. "Landlords do not sufficiently screen their tenants, and then allow them to disregard the basic courtesies of being a good neighbor," Connolly said.

"At $500, 600, 700 per month per kid, the landlord's doing very well, and thus has a laissez-faire attitude to his tenants, at the expense of the neighborhood."

Illegal living spaces, illicit boardinghouses, improper trash and waste disposal, and noise violations are among the most common problems cited by the city.

"When you get seven to eight people living in a space meant for two to three, it becomes an illegal boardinghouse. This creates health risks and legal issues that, ultimately, the landlord is responsible for," Connolly said. As more and more Tufts students move off-campus, the issue of illegal living spaces has become increasingly pertinent.

In addition, Somerville has a host of town-gown issues to deal with. "The student issue is one factor, but not the sole factor, causing the need for new city legislation," Alderman-at-Large Bill White, who sponsored the resolution, said.

According to Connolly, who is responsible for the area of Davis Square, Powderhouse Square, and Ball Square, Somerville residents are particularly bothered by Thursday night parties. "I most often get complaints about excessive noise from residents with young children with school and work the next day," he said. Connolly, however, was quick to place the brunt of the blame on certain landlords who do not enforce the regulations, and not on students.

Other serious problems that go beyond traditional town-gown sore points have been created by the common practice of charging monthly rent per individual tenant. This leads many tenants, especially those from lower income families, to lower their rent by increasing the number of people paying the bill.

"In the most extreme cases, we're seeing greedy landlords allow people, including children, to sleep on mattresses in basements, with living spaces separated by clotheslines," White added.

The Aldermen hope that the new mayor will take a hard stance on these issues and implement their resolution for the creation of a special taskforce. "A lot of the initiative rests on the new mayor's shoulders," Connolly said. "It takes an aggressive, collective effort to put those ideas into action.

"If we went after five to ten property owners in each ward with inspections and fines, it would pressure other landlords to enforce the law or suffer the same consequences. It would improve the problem significantly," he said.

Both mayoral candidates have promised to crack down on code violations and tax evasion from absentee landlords. They also hope to promote good neighborhood relations between Somerville residents and Tufts students.

Mayoral candidate and Alderman-at-Large Joe Curtatone has identified this issue as a "high priority" and has proposed taking the taskforce one step further. He would like to create what he calls "impact teams" -- groups of inspectors that would patrol Somerville's streets and respond to reports of violations.

"During my door-to-door campaign over the last few weeks, I've seen scores of code violations, able to be seen by the naked eye -- hazardous materials not properly stored, illegal businesses running out of garages, inadequate waste disposal ... it's not only an absentee landlord problem, but one that also pertains to residential and commercial property owners," he said.

Candidate Tony LaFuente agreed. "It's not just the quality of life for the students, it's the quality of life for the community," he said.

The University would like to discuss the possibility of creating additional rental property inspections following the selection of the next mayor, Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel said.