Nick Markowitz's Fire & Electrical Safety Section

By Nick Markowitz
Copyright©1998

Slumlords are, for the most part, greedy, uncaring individuals who have no conscious. They are often, but not always, lawyers, doctors, accountants or some other high- income professional who, themselves, usually live in enormous, beautiful homes, living the perfect life in the suburbs--all the while their tenants pay the ultimate price by living in their unsafe properties. What's wrong with this picture?

In all fairness, it is not just the high-income professionals who end up as slumlords. Many times it is the reale state and property management companies, with or without the knowledge of the absentee landlords. Some slum lords also come into being because they either paid too much for the property or they lost too many tenants. In either case they may be in over their heads. And then there are the first time novelists who want to dabble in real estate and have no idea what they are getting themselves into.

Now, I have heard every excuse in the book why they should not follow building codes and provide safe housing, and none of the answers they give justify what they do, for I know of many landlords who do their best to provide proper housing. Many of them go above and beyond what is required of them by law to make things right for their tenants.

Slumlords, however, do as little as necessary, cheating the system and their tenants anywhere and everywhere they can. And, should their property burn down and someone die, it's "Oh well, things happen," or "too bad for the persons who got killed or injured," and the slumlord goes on down the road on his merry way.

There Are Three Kinds Of
Slumlords To Choose From

When it comes to slumlords, there are three basic types: the low-class ghetto-Type, the high-class-type, and the management company-Type. Sometimes they are all three rolled into one.

The low class slumLord typically buys property that has gone through bankruptcy or a sheriffs sale and is many times already in bad shape. Often times this type of property is situation in a low-income neighborhood, although sometimes it is in the middle and an upper-income neighborhood.

You can always tell their properties because the grass is unkept, the gutters are falling off, the wood is rotted, and brick work is cracked and falling off. All they like to do is collect the rent and do nothing else by way of building improvements or repairs, unless code enforcement and a court of law compels them to. And, what repairs they do are usually poorly done by inexperienced and untrained contractors who often don't really care about the kind of work they do, so long as they are paid. Even then, many a slumlord will try to beat these substandard workers out of their money.

The high-class slumLord is often hard to tell because he hides all his problems with fringe and style. He keeps the hallways clean and painted and puts in fancy landscaping. But, above the ceilings and in the basement lerks a host of problems. Like the others, he likes to hire uncaring tradesmen who will wire, plumb or perform other tasks using poor work practices which are often in violation of the building codes. This landlord, while keeping up appearances, is actually cutting corners everywere he can, and usually he gets away with it.

The management company-type slumlord is someone who manages property for a living, often for landlords who live out of state or who are not interested in maintaining their own properties--just collecting the profits. Many times this type of landlord is a doctor, a lawyer. They are too busy to handle all the details involving the properties they own, so they hire a management firm to do the renting and maintenance for them. In return, they pay a fee. While many such management companies do a fine job, there are twice as many that hire anyone off the street to do the repairs, clean and paint, many times with disastrous results.

And, of course, slum lords pay off inspectors or perform favors for them. They also get away with code violations because the community involved is short on inspectors. Thus, the few inspectors that are on the job find it hard to keep an eye on everything because they over so burdened. And then you have communities who just do not care about code enforcement.

All of this, plus slum lords who play the insurance fraud game, drives up insurance rates. What we have is one big mess with no cure--unless people get involved and demand safe housing. Slum lords need to be held accountable for their actions, or lack of action. How can each of us help the situation? We can call code enforcement about multiple- family structures where code violations exist or we can call a slumlord and encourage him to clean up his act. Remember, "persistence" is the watch word of the day when it comes to obtaining results, so don't give up after the first phone call, be persistent.

Author's Note: Over the years I have unfortunately had to deal with slumlords while conducting business. Usually, once I know that someone is a slum lord, I try very hard to encourage them to do the job right where building codes are concerned. If they refuse to change their mindset, I do not work for them. This practice has cost me money, but I do not want an injury or death on my conscious.

Editor's Note: Nick Markowitz is an Asstant Engineer at Pennhills VFD 4; an electrician, maintenance specialist; and a regular contributor to the Safety & Security Magazine. -- Al Colombo

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