The Village of Tivoli is continuing work on a law that would subject rental properties to new regulations in an effort to maintain and increase compliance with village code.
According to Mayor Bryan Cranna, the law is being designed to make absentee landlords accountable for the state of their property.
The key element of the law would be a requirement that all landlords who don’t live locally must secure the service of a local property agent, who would be the main contact for the village for any questions or concerns over the property. While a final version of the law has not yet been drafter, the current version defines living locally to mean within Dutchess or one of the neighboring counties.
The board is also trying to formulate a system that would require rental properties to undergo regular code inspections for fire safety and other issues. While the board members said they are generally in agreement that such inspections are needed, there is not yet a consensus on how best to implement them.
Currently, the two options are inspections at standardized intervals or inspections when there is a change of tenants. There has been some discussion that inspections at regular intervals will serve as a major disruption to tenants who are renting for a long period of time. However, inspecting with each change of tenant would require the village to create a new system through which the village is notified each time a property is re-rented.
Once work is complete on drafting the law, a public hearing will be scheduled to receive residents’ input.
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