Stricter enforcement of the Landlord Ordinance can be expected from now on, said Wayne Earley, Honesdale Borough Code Enforcement Officer. Occupied with issues surrounding the East Street Fire since the blaze broke out last Thursday afternoon, Earley said that the owners of 1733 East Street had not renewed their annual license since their first one was issued in 2006.
Earley said that there were no known safety violations at the apartment house. The State Police Fire Marshall’s Office ruled the fire cause as “undetermined” due to the high temperature of the fire which left little to examine.
The co-owners, Mark Lowe, of Arizona, and Richard Nuttall, of New York State, had fire insurance, said Earley. Owners of the nearby properties which were damaged- including the heavily damaged apartment house at 1731 East Street, and those that received melted siding, must work with their own insurance companies. Earley said it was up to how the insurance companies work it out, but it would appear that the insurance company of Lowe and Nuttall would have to pay the deductible amounts the other homeowners may face.
The owners at 1733 will be held responsible to clean up the property, he stated. A demolition estimate is being prepared. Earley commented that he did not hear official word about the fate of1731 East Street, which sustained heavy fire damage. That house is owned by Daniel and Linda Davis of the Waymart area.
The address for the house that burned to the ground was both 1733 and 1735 (the upstairs), and there were four apartments. Earley stated that at least one of those apartments was being subsidized by the U.S. Housing & Urban Development (HUD) which meant an annual inspection of that apartment was required by the Wayne County Housing Authority as well as an inspection when new tenants receiving Housing assistance, were going to move in.
Earley, as the Borough’s Code Enforcement Officer, would be asked by the Housing Authority to also make an inspection, although Earley said he had not done an inspection there in a year or so.
He did do an exterior inspection a couple weeks ago, and the Housing Authority inspector went in on the Thursday morning, the day of the fire. No violations were found in that apartment and the smoke alarm was working, said Earley.
The Housing Authority inspector would address any safety issue, and if there was need for further enforcement, Earley’s office would be contacted, he said.
Earely met with Lowe and Nuttall’s local contact person last week over the license issue but he stated he was quitting over not being paid. Earley had planned to meet with Nuttall on Tuesday of this week.
The Borough’s Landlord Ordinance requires every landlord to renew an annual license and to notify the Borough when tenants moved out, so the Code Enforcement Officer could go and inspect the premises. Earley said they had not been notified and had no current list of tenants, which would have been useful.
The ordinance went into effect September 1, 2006, and every September 1st, landlords are to renew their license. Lowe and Nuttall applied and received their first yearly license in 2006 but had not renewed in 2007 or in 2008. Compliance letters had been sent.
Less than 10 landlords failed to renew their licenses in 2007, he said; there is a number that have not yet renewed since the beginning of this September, but the borough had been giving landlords “some leeway,” said Earley. He added, “We will probably give a stiffer stance now.” Stricter enforcement of the ordinance is a lesson that came out of this, he stated; if he had chance to get in there to inspect, he said it was possible “things would have been better.”
He added, “Anyone without a license will be treated a little more harshly... maybe we were too gentle.” After a warning letter is sent, after so many days, the penalty of $100 a day will be put into force, said Earley. This must be done, he stressed, for the safety of the tenants as well as the firefighters who are putting themselves at risk if safety violation led to a fire.
“It takes a while for a new program to get people to comply,” he said, noting some may not understand it or don’t think the new rules are necessary. All these years before, the landlords in town did not have to have a license or have borough inspections. The whole idea, said Earley, is to give people a better chance of survival if something happens.
“That’s our dream, to make it safer for everybody,” said Earley.