Members of the Madison Landlord and Tenant Issues Subcommittee had difficulty reaching agreements during Thursday's meeting as they discussed several items involving the rights and restrictions of both renters and rental property owners.
One issue that generated debate among committee members was a proposed increase in penalties for landlords and possible implementation of new bail guidelines for landlords in cases involving tenants' rights. The proposal would give police officers the ability to write a citation in response to a landlord-tenant dispute, which supporters say would be more efficient than the existing long-form complaints handled through the city.
""When we have a long-form complaint, there is a lot more paperwork that the city has to complete as opposed to a citation,"" Maureen O'Brien, a representative from the city attorney's office, said.
Yet several committee members questioned the necessity of such measures, including a representative from the Madison Police Department.
""Just from experience in the 20 years I've been doing this job, I've never written a citation for [this type of dispute],"" the representative officer said. ""It is useful for officers to have as many tools available to them to gain compliance as they can, but this would not be the first way to deal with this.""
Committee members also brought up concerns that the amendment did not have an equal balance of protection for landlords against bad tenants.
""We need to look at both sides,"" subcommittee member Curtis Brink said.
Amendments to the ordinances concerning properties considered a chronic nuisance were also discussed, including the proper licensing procedure for building managers and the approved procedure for posting notifications of chronic nuisance violations.
""If one property becomes a chronic nuisance, we don't want this to change the whole neighborhood or stereotype an area,"" Brink said. ""You're only as good as your best tenants.""
