Hutchinson landlords: City's response to building-code violations goes too far

Some landlords in Hutchinson say it's time for an end to what they say is the city's overbearing enforcement of building code violations.

The city says the program in place is meant to keep tenants safe and rental properties maintained. Wednesday, Eyewitness News spoke with landlords on and off camera about why they say something needs to change.

"It's all treated like a criminal matter," Hutchinson rental property owner Robin Jackson says. "I think that's a problem. I think that causes a lot of antagonism."

Central Kansas Landlord Association President Jill Gumble and her husband, Mitch, own about 20 properties, which they buy in disrepair and fix before renting out. They say they've been cited on multiple properties and have one in court.

"They were on sheds and garages and unoccupied properties that we have never made a dime on. We’ve never rented them in the condition that they were in because we wouldn’t," said Jill Gumble.

One notice gave them a Jan. 9 deadline, to paint a house and a garage of a property they purchased.

Jill said other landlords have been facing similar issues to differing degrees.

"We haven’t been hit on too many, and I don’t know if I’m just lucky or I’m nice or something," said William Graves, who manages his father's properties.

In Hutchinson, violations often come with a 30-day window to address the citation.

The city says before deferring a case to court, it tries to work with owners to give them the time they need as long as they show progress in making repairs.

"Thirty days is our starting point, but some of our cases go on for months and months and months, or years," says Hutchinson Building Official Trent Maxwell.

This stems from Hutchinson's Rental Registration program, which started about five years ago to inspect all rentals by 2019.

"We were trying to get every rental inspection done by 2019. That we were able to accomplish, there are other properties they may own that are not part of the rental program that are just part of the property maintenance code. When you see deficient properties, we send them out letters of violations to address those blighted concerns with those properties," says Hutchinson Building Official Trent Maxwell.

"If they’re receiving multiple violations, it’s not the same property coming back a week later, writing up another violation on that same property. It’s another property that they own."

This initially required interior inspections, but the landlord association challenged and won a chance to limit inspections to the outside of houses.

Landlords say they agree some form of standards should be in place, and the landlords' Eyewitness News spoke with say they take pride in offering well-maintained properties and only rent them in they meet their standards.

"The way that this program was set up it's completely different than the way that it is being taken care of," said Jill Gumble. "Now, I don't believe that it's a bad thing to have minimum standards and requirements. You absolutely need that."

Graves said, " Most of our houses that have been hit are also unoccupied because I won't rent them until they're ready. I won't. I have people beg me to. I’ll come in and fix it for you. We get them ready. We get them habitable. We get them where there is not one property that I wouldn't live in."

Hutchinson has 5,500 rentals.

What rental property owners say goes too far now is threats of jail time for violations.

Property owner Johnny Nance says he was jailed twice for failing to appear for a court hearing on a citation.

"Going to jail doesn't seem to serve the purpose to get those things done, and it impedes my progress," Nance says.

The city says that part is out of its control.

"When you don't appear to court, the automatic result is you get a bench warrant for your arrest," Maxwell says.

That has some landlords thinking it's time to get out of the business.

CKLA did endorse and contribute to the campaigns for city council candidates in the last election, hoping it would bring a change.

The new council was sworn in this week.

Landlords in Hutchinson are petitioning for the Rental Registration Program to end. Even though the city renewed the program last year, it says there is a discussion to reverse that by a newly-elected city council.