Battle between city, Middletown landlords heating up

By Rick McCrabb, Commentary 6:10 PM Saturday, May 12, 2012

MIDDLETOWN — Talk about a power struggle.

On one side of the table sits Doug Adkins, community revitalization director for the City of Middletown, who wants landlords to register their rental properties — may be $25 per mailbox — so the city can have more control on the properties and more accountability of the owners.

Then there are landlords — they prefer the title “professional housing providers” — who say they already register their properties with the Butler County Auditor’s Office, and there’s already too much government, too many fees.

They want the existing regulations in place enforced before more rules are written.

Adkins pitched his proposal on May 1 to Middletown City Council, and while most of the council sounded receptive to the idea, I don’t need to tell you how it was received by those who own rental property in the city.

More than 30 landlords met recently at a local restaurant to voice their displeasure with the city. They plan on writing e-mails to all seven members of council, signing a petition, and encouraging others impacted by the possible registration — bank officials, construction workers, hardware store owners — to join in their effort.

It’s about to get real interesting.

Missy McCall was one of those who attended the meeting. She has fought this battle before. In the early 2000s, she said, Hamilton City Council proposed similar legislation, and McCall led a group that opposed the registration fees. Landlords, wearing bright red shirts, packed the council chambers. They voiced their opinions. They were heard. Eventually the legislation was dropped.

Now the Butler County Battle moves to Middletown.

Adkins told council that if the legislation passes, the city would need to buy more vehicles and software and possibly hire more staff.

To that, McCall said: “We don’t need more government,” a sentiment echoed by many at the meeting.

McCall said her company rehabs about 50 homes a year — that’s nearly one per week — in Butler County. She has lived in Middletown for two years, but said if the legislation passes, she’ll take her business to neighboring communities.

McCall said if landlords register their homes with the city, it will give them additional ammunition to hold the landlords accountable for the actions of their tenants. That makes landlords “the big mommy and daddy,” McCall said.

She questioned the timing of this proposal. She called this the “worst real estate recession since the Great Depression,” and said if passed, it will force more people into foreclosure.

“People are struggling,” she said. “More will fail and there will be more blight. Period.”

In a “perfect world,” McCall said, the city would create a committee with equal representation from city administrators and landlords and they’d discuss the property pitfalls in the city. She said the city should ask the landlords for solutions.

“We’re the experts,” she said.