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Commonwealth court strikes down Pittsburgh's rental registry ordinance
In yet another setback for housing advocates and city officials who have fought for years to hold shoddy landlords accountable, a state judge struck down legislation Friday meant to establish stricter rental laws in Pittsburgh. The bill, passed by Pittsburgh City Council in 2021, would have imposed more frequent rental inspections and required landlords to register their properties and disclose proof of ownership with the city.
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt, who issued the opinion, said the law — which includes mandated training courses and disclosing inspection reports in a public database — placed excessive burdens on landlords. The court found “the city was without authority to enact the Rental Ordinance in its present configuration,” reversing the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court decision to uphold the registry.
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Pittsburgh’s rental registry program — which forced landlords to abide by the property codes and address outstanding violations — was struck down twice before, when interest groups representing property owners, including the Landlord Services Bureau, mounted legal challenges. The groups argued before that the fees for inspections amounted to an “unconstitutional” tax on property owners, and that the ordinance violated state law.
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For decades, Pittsburgh’s failure to regularly inspect apartments has set it apart from other cities in the state. Erie inspects rental properties every two years. Starting in 2000, Allentown mandated inspections every five years — the same frequency as the proposal in Pittsburgh. And Philadelphia created a rental registry in 2015, allowing the city to track property ownership and compliance with building codes.
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt, who issued the opinion, said the law — which includes mandated training courses and disclosing inspection reports in a public database — placed excessive burdens on landlords. The court found “the city was without authority to enact the Rental Ordinance in its present configuration,” reversing the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court decision to uphold the registry.
- snip -
Pittsburgh’s rental registry program — which forced landlords to abide by the property codes and address outstanding violations — was struck down twice before, when interest groups representing property owners, including the Landlord Services Bureau, mounted legal challenges. The groups argued before that the fees for inspections amounted to an “unconstitutional” tax on property owners, and that the ordinance violated state law.
- snip -
For decades, Pittsburgh’s failure to regularly inspect apartments has set it apart from other cities in the state. Erie inspects rental properties every two years. Starting in 2000, Allentown mandated inspections every five years — the same frequency as the proposal in Pittsburgh. And Philadelphia created a rental registry in 2015, allowing the city to track property ownership and compliance with building codes.
- more at link -
This is a big problem in Pittsburgh, a city with a large inventory of old, decrepit houses that most of us would never live in but are still being rented out to students, elderly and unemployed residents. Mayor Ed Gainey is trying to do something about this problem but the courts aren't helping one bit.
