If you’ve ever waited an absurdly long time to have the plumbing fixed or the heat turned on in your Downtown Binghamton apartment, you’re not alone. The increasing number of landlords who ignore their tenants has become such a problem in Broome County that the Binghamton City Council has decided to take action.
According to City Clerk Eric S. Denk, the new Rental Registration Program, effective since October 2006, requires that “all property owners in the city who rent their premises for lease supply the name and phone number of a contact person who is located in Broome County.” The deadline is 30 days from when letters announcing the new requirement were sent out to landlords.
The contact person is necessary because of an increasing number of out of town, or “absentee,” landlords — those who own property in Binghamton while residing elsewhere, often leaving tenants stranded.
City Councilman Pat Russo also recognized the problem with landlords. “These landlords don’t care what goes on in their buildings, that residents have a problem, that we have a code enforcement problem … and we need landlords to comply with the rules,” he said.
Absentee landlords were notified in mid-October that they would have 30 days to provide the Council with the contact information of a local resident who would address tenants’ concerns. After their time is up, “we’re going to start looking at those who have chosen not to respond, and we’re going to make everybody accountable,” Russo said. “We need 24-hour property managers. We’re tired of chasing ghosts.”
Ellie Farfaglia, head of the Landlord Association of Broome County, explained that “absentee landlords have no attachment to the community whatsoever and [rent] strictly to drain off every dollar from the property,” whereas local landlords “work at it 24/7. This is our job.”
She described the difference as one of “small business versus mega business,” adding that, particularly in cases where properties have been bought out by large LLC corporations, “students don’t even know who their landlords are. If they have a problem, they don’t have anyone to call.”
But, even when tenants do have a local contact person to call, it’s often as hopeless as trying to reach the landlord.
BU graduate student Kevin Volk, who rents an apartment on the city’s West Side, has been waiting for over two months to have a leak in his bathroom fixed. Volk’s landlord lives in New Jersey, and his mother, who lives locally, is the contact person for his properties.
For Volk, however, the plumbing problem was exacerbated: “It was really hard to get a hold of her because apparently she was in a nursing home, and the number I had didn’t work.” He added that, aside from the leaky sink and missing mother, “it was clear that there hadn’t been any attention paid to the property, and we had to do a lot of fixing up … it was really obnoxious.”
Farfaglia agreed that providing a local contact person will not necessarily end tenants’ problems. The best way potential renters can protect themselves, she said, is to meet the landlord before signing the lease and to ask current tenants how responsive contact people have been to their concerns.
“There’s a lot to be said for one-on-one contact,” Farfaglia said. “I’m not saying that all out of town landlords are bad, but from what we have seen so far, the majority are.”