I take no issue with the chronic nuisance ordinance being used in the fact situation that you present. I would agree that such a situation would be a propoer use of the ordinance, and the reason it was created.

Unfortunately, those “legitimate” sitautions are not the only way it is being used. It is also being used when someone walks by a rental property and drops litter on the lawn and a neighbor calls in the complaint for littering and when a person driving down the road decides to stop their vehicle in front of a rental property to telephone the police about the fight they just had with their boyfriend several minutes ago at a different location. The caller tells the police where she is calling from and that is the property that gets “dinged” with another nuisance call.

These are the type of situations that unfortunately are counted as a nuisance and which I do not believe the ordinance should be used for.

I do empathize with your issue of the absentee landlord. They do exist and in my honest opinion should have a local management company involved for the day to day management of their properties. For what it is worth, if a landlord doesn’t care about his/her rental property enough (or its neighbors) to respond to legitimate complaints, I’m not sure that tacking a fee on his/her property tax bill is going to do much either.

I am not sure that the landlords that you are speaking of (and the attorneys as well) are as representative as you think they are. I know many landlords and attorneys that are not living as well as you allude to in your post . . . trust me on that. I would strongly caution anyone that wants to become wealthy from becoming a landlord . . . or an attorney for that matter : )

I appreciate your reading of my blog and taking the time to offer feedback.

T

Of course you have heard tales of woe from landlords as a lawyer representing them. Just as a lawyer who represents drug dealers always hears about how “I was framed” or “I didn’t do it” etc. You have a very specific perspective that requires your opinion to be colored. Any suggestion that you are impartial to the particulars around your clients would mean you are not an impassioned defender.

I live next to a house that has been a problem for several months. I’ve asked the tenants to curtail their partying, with no effect and even some suspected vandalism as retribution. I have called the police on fights occurring, only to have the event end before the slow response results in no arrests (crime has stopped by the time the police arrive). As a result, a law like this will likely be the ONLY way I can regain peace and quiet in my neighborhood once again.

Tristan, we don’t all live in an sprawling or upper crust residence somewhere, as a lawyer who represents monied landlords might. Most of us live in our humble homes right next to rentals where some people skip around from place to place, drink too much, and carry on at all hours. We don’t have any other recourse than this law in a city where the police are burdened to the extreme and cant respond for hours. If some of these landlords actually lived in their own units, they might better understand what is going on. My rental next door is owned by a fellow in Arizona. He doesnt care when I call him up and his first question is “how did you get my number?” How dare I call him!! Incredible.

First, the threshhold is three “events” in six months.

Second, each unit is different, so if Apartment 3 in a building has two “events”, and then Apartment 4 next door has a problem, that would be #1 for them.

Third, it is not based off of police calls, but instead enforcement actions. An arrest had to have been made, or a citiation issued for it to count. Just having police show up doesn’t count.

Fourth, any calls from the property owner don’t count.

Finally, this ordiance applies toward all properties and is not just focussed on rentals. As a matter of fact, in the couple of years it has been on the books, I think it has only been used a couple of times against a few local problem bars.

Landlords have a genunie problem with Wausau PD not telling us when we are having a problem. I don’t know if the police have been to my property unless a neighbor calls.. and even then, the Wausau PD is hestant to provide information to me even confirming the call. This ordinance REQUIRED the PD to notify property owners after three “events”, though they still don’t do that.