Landlord: ordinance will mean higher rent

One local landlord says the city of Hawesville’s proposed ordinance that will make property owners responsible for their renters’ bad utility bills will just lead to higher rents and a bigger burden on renters.
“I feel for the city, I mean I have the same issue trying to collect money at times,” said Mike Garvin, who has 16 single family homes in the county, including in Hawesville. “Why should I be responsible for anybody else’s bills other than my own?”

The city held the first reading of the ordinance during its January meeting, which will make the property owner responsible for city utility bills left behind when renters move out without paying what they owe.
Usually when someone isn’t paying their water bill the city cuts them off soon after, but restrictions put in place during the pandemic meant the city couldn’t cut off service, couldn’t charge fees, and had to let the bill balances grow on those who weren’t paying. One moved out and left behind a $1,700 water bill.

Garvin said he feels like it’s punishing the wrong people.
“I pay my taxes, I pay my bills, and because somebody wants to run off on the bill, they want me to pay it, because they don’t want to take the effort to go after them to get the money back,” he said. “I understand that. It takes a lot of time and money to do it. The filing fee is over $100, about $140 I think.”
But if he has to prepare to potentially cover a renter’s old bills he said he will have to pass the expense on to every renter.

“For me to do it I’m just going to have to raise stuff,” he said. “I’m going to have to raise rent, so it’s just going to cost more money… If the city wants me to cover the responsibility of someone else it’s in my best interest to cover that. Either pay the water bill and make it exorbitantly high just so it’ll cover it, or get higher deposits.”

While the city, in the discussion over the ordinance, put the onus on property owners to thoroughly vet tenants and possibly require larger initial deposits for rentals.

“I don’t know why the city can’t do a higher deposit,” said Garvin. “As far as Kenergy and Atmos goes they do credit checks. They can justify getting higher deposits from bad credit people.”
“I do the same thing. I do credit checks, I do background checks, I do a contract,” he said. The city only has a flat fee for a deposit for anyone wanting service, he said, which doesn’t account for higher risk customers.

Tracking down delinquent customers takes time and money, which Garvin said he understands, especially since he has to do the same thing for his renters if they leave him with damage or unpaid rent.
“I’ve been left with damage, rent not paid, and whenever I do that I have to go in there and fix my house, get it re-rented, and then I’ve got to total up everything that they’ve damaged and how much rent (was lost) from the time it took me to get it back together and then I’ve got to take them to court and it takes me time to get my money,” he said.

Then even when he gets a judgment they often don’t pay, so he’s back where he started.
He’s already taking on that fight about once every other year, he said, so the city shouldn’t put an additional burden on him to collect an old bill for them.
“I wouldn’t care to work with the city on anything but to make me responsible for somebody else’s bills…” he said.

Ultimately all future tenants will face higher costs for the city’s decision, he said, putting the burden on still more people who didn’t run up the old bills.
“I’m going to have to put the water in my name and go back and find out what the average bill is and maybe double it just so I never have to come out of pocket,” Garvin said. “But then that adds more money to rent and then it makes it harder for my tenants to pay rent if their income is tight.”

Hawesville’s council will hold the second reading and passage of the ordinance at its February 9 meeting.

By Dave Taylor
dave.hancockclarion
@gmail.com