Hopewell's plan to identify 'slumlords' not a big hit with city rental-property owners

HOPEWELL — A program that the city hopes will weed out so-called "slumlords" in Hopewell was met Tuesday night with some City Council resistance not so much over the concept of the program but over a plan to charge landlords an upfront fee just to come inspect the property.

A gallery full of city landlords applauded several times when Mayor Johnny Partin and Ward 7 Councilor Dominic Holloway voiced their opposition to the upfront fee in a council work session on the issue. They both said they supported the concept of the program, but they could not get behind the initial $100 fee for the inspection because it would not be fair to the owners who keep up their property to pay for those who do not.

Hopewell rental property inspector Darlene Loving said the initial fee was suggested because when an inspection program was attempted previously, several landlords never bothered to register their properties for it.

"They just waved it over to the side," Loving said. "I think that's one reason why we were asked to put initial fees on, to put reinspection fees on and to have a penalty fee."

Partin said he was OK with the reinspection fees and penalty fee, but not the upfront fee because it also punishes the people "who take good pride in their property" and are responsive to tenant concerns.

"I think it would be almost kind of a slap to the face to make them pay for a fee to have them come out and inspect it, and everything is good," Partin said.

Holloway agreed, saying "there has to be a line drawn somewhere" to hold the slumlords accountable. "To add extra fees to these homeowners just doesn't make sense," he said.

Vice Mayor Jasmine Gore said landlords in Hopewell are considered small-business owners but they are exempt from paying business license fees like the other small businesses in the city.

"I'm just trying to put it in perspective," she said. "Some people have 200 properties and are not paying for business licenses."

Holloway pointed out, though, that most every landlord in Hopewell does not own that many properties. However, they do pay real-estate taxes on the properties they own, and that essentially cancels out the need for them to pay for business licenses.

In one back-and-forth with Loving, Holloway asked how much of the property taxes go toward the battle with slumlords.

"Protecting tenants from slum landlords is one thing," Holloway said, "but going after the landlords and charging them more fees is something different. So my question is, do property taxes cover the initiatives such as those inspections?"

"I don't know. I cannot answer that question," Loving responded.

"I can answer it," Holloway said. "Yes."

The gallery applauded.

What is the proposed program?

The goal of the rental inspection program is multifold: maintain safe and sanitary living conditions for renters, reduce blight, stabilize and increase neighborhood pride, and maintain real-estate values in the city among them. While the ultimate plan is for it to go citywide, the Hopewell planning department has identified City Point and "B" Village [the area of Main Street ad Sixth Avenue west toward Monticello Street] as the program's pilot districts.

Landlords would be required to register their units for the program with Hopewell's codes-compliance office.

There are six levels of inspection in the program, and each has a fee attached. The initial inspection would be $100, and any reinspection stemming from the initial check would carry a fee of $100 per reinspected uit for minor violations, and anywhere from $500-$2,500 per unit for major violations not remedied within a given 30-day period. Failure to schedule a required inspection would carry a $100 fine on top of any other fees or fines that come from the inspection. All of the fines are subject to appeal.

All of this is subject to council approval. Since it was presented Tuesday night in a work session, council was not expected to act on it then.

Loving acknowledged that the majority of Hopewell landlords keep their properties up to code.

"The opposite end of it is what is overrunning us right now," she said.

She also said many tenants are afraid to speak up about poor living conditions out of fear they will be evicted, but some of the speakers at the meeting appeared to refute that. One person who works in the financial industry pointed out that tenants upset that their landlord has failed to address issues can put their rent money into an escrow account until the landlord follows thrrough on the repairs

What do the landowners say?

The majority of those landlords at the meeting were not in favor of having to pay an upfront fee for inspections.

"It's a punishment," resident Deborah Loftis said. "If they fail the inspection, then hit them with the fees."

Added resident Rebecca Frazier, "It's a waste of time."

Randy Horner told council that Virginia's decision to freeze evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic hurt property owners like him because the state has not followed through with him on its COVID-relief payments covering rents.

"I personally am still owed $13,000 from the state of Virginia that never came through," Horner said. "I am not evicting those tenants who are not paying because of COVID. For me as a property owner, what am I supposed to do?"

Jerry Nichols, who owns rental property in City Point, questioned why City Point has to be one of the first two areas to be in the program when there are other parts of town where blighted property is more of a problem.

"Every time, it starts at City Point," said Nichols, who lives in Hopewell's Ward 3. "Why can't they start it in Ward 7 or something?"

Council is expected to take another look at the program in a future meeting.

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Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Hopewell councilors, landlords not keen on part of inspection proposal