Irresponsible landlords will be forced to reimburse tenants who make necessary repairs to their houses or apartments under a city ordinance which was sent to the City Council Wednesday.
Ald. Austin King, District 8 and Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, headed the proposal, and King said the idea is to give tenants legal leeway to fall back on if a landlord fails to make required updates to the living quarters.
King said the proposal would probably be used very seldom, but it's definitely something we need to have.""
""The ultimate goal is the health and safety of the tenants' quarters being proper and up to date,"" King said.
Plugged sewers, broken water heaters and lack of heat are common failures that occur while living in a rented home or apartment. King said he wants tenants to be able to act quickly and accordingly when dealing with these problems and not have to worry about their landlord failing to fix it.
While the proposal did pass, 6-2, there was much opposition and most came from those concerned with landlords' rights and tenant fraud.
One such case, proposed by Rose Letourneau, was that of a tenant ripping the toilet out of the ground and calling someone to fix it. Letourneau pointed out that the tenant could then bill the landlord and get the amount put towards their rent check.
King refuted the hypothetical scenario, saying, ""the tenant would have to go through a hearing with a rent abatement examiner and the landlord, and there would be no chance that a tenant would be able to collect the money.""
The majority of the committee argued that nearly all of the testimony against the proposal involved a case with very little probability.
David Sparer, an advocate of the proposal, agreed with King, saying fraud would be rare and that the proposal would merely ""protect a small amount of people from some really irresponsible people.""
UW-Madison junior and tenant Marta Grinde said the proposal is necessary ""to a certain degree.""
In August, the house Grinde rented required many necessary house repairs.
""My house was unlivable at the time of move in and I think I am probably owed about $500 toward my rent for time spent fixing the house and cleaning supplies bought."" She said if the proposal had passed a month ago she would not be out $500.
