Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Rental Regulation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Germantown resident urges board to study ‘chronic nuisance’ rental properties
Summary
A 40-year Germantown resident urged the board to consider tools used elsewhere to hold property owners accountable for repeat disorder at rental properties, citing recent police responses and nuisance ordinance sections.
Kathy Anderson, a 40-year resident of Germantown, addressed the Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Sept. 8 during the citizens-to-be-heard portion of the meeting, urging officials to examine local enforcement tools for problem rental properties.
Anderson described a series of neighborhood incidents, including what she said was a SWAT-team standoff at a nearby house about three weeks earlier, a separate late-night police response involving a stolen vehicle, and an episode in which dogs charged people walking by. "I'm here tonight not to describe, but I see a bad trend coming in our neighborhood regarding tenants and landlords," Anderson said. "We're seeing more than a handful of bad tenants." She suggested the board consider a chronic nuisance-properties ordinance similar to Seattle’s, which allows a police chief to declare a property a nuisance based on a threshold of calls over time.
Mayor (name not specified) thanked Anderson and told the board and audience the city would work through the issue. "We will be glad to work through that," the mayor said, and noted the city already strengthened nuisance rules the prior year in response to large parties and other incidents. Vice Mayor Mary Anne Gibson and Alderman Salvaggio also noted past and ongoing work at the state level addressing rental issues; the mayor said Vice Mayor Gibson and Alderman Hicks have participated in Tennessee Municipal League efforts on rental-registry legislation.
Nut graf: Anderson asked the board to consider whether existing nuisance and owner-liability provisions (she referenced "section 11.3" and "section 11.4") are sufficient or whether additional tools — such as a registry or chronic-nuisance authority — should be explored. The board did not take formal action at the meeting but invited Anderson to meet with staff to provide additional information.
Anderson provided copies of materials to the board and the mayor invited further engagement. No staff report, ordinance proposal or timeline for a formal study was announced during the meeting.
