City officials said the amendments are an attempt to codify the current legal practices, but the amendments also strengthen the existing rental ordinances which have, in some cases, been seen as unconstitutional.
The amendments tackle how the city deals with multiple citations. If a person is found renting without a license, they will receive a fine for each day the property has been illegally rented out.
“If you were to just issue a single citation, (landlords) would pay the citation and (continue illegally renting). The profits are so great,” East Lansing City Attorney Tom Yeadon said. “In order to create a disincentive we created the daily violations.”
With the recent amendments, the city now fines landlords up to two times the amount they have gained by illegally renting property. If the city is unable to determine the amount gained, the landlord could be charged up to $1,000 per tenant in the building.
“Most of the time people are honest and we can find a lease,” Yeadon said. “Sometimes (landlords and tenants) aren’t honest and we don’t know how much was made.”
With this measure in place, some citizens could be fined without charging rent at all, although Yeadon says those cases are few and far between.
“Most people don’t give away their property. It would be an unusual circumstance,” he said.
This type of circumstance was recently brought to East Lansing District Court and exposed some issues with the ordinance.
On May 1, East Lansing District Judge Richard Ball dismissed the renting citations of an East Lansing resident on the grounds that the application of the ordinance was unconstitutional in the case.
Penelope Tsernoglou, the defendant, was charged 33 times with illegally renting her East Lansing condo to a friend. Tsernoglou faced fines that ranged from “$8,250 to $16,500,” according to Judge Ball’s decision.
Throughout the case, many problems with the city’s rental ordinances were addressed, ranging from the frequency of citations issued, the amount each citation cost and the intentions of the renter.
Ultimately Judge Ball ruled that the ordinance was punishing citizens it was never meant to punish.
According to Judge Ball’s decision, “It cannot be seriously argued that (Tsernoglou’s) conduct was the type of conduct which the ordinance was designed to prohibit ... the application of the ordinance is unconstitutional.”
Mark Grebner, the lawyer for Tsernoglou and founder of Practical Political Consulting, said the city’s rental code is much more than flawed.
“The amount of money is huge,” Grebner said. “It’s draconian.”
