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City
Appeals Court Decision
BY MATT GREEN
In 1996 the city of Oberlin changed its safety regulations for housing.
Among other things, fire ladders had to be replaced by stairs in rooming
houses. A rooming house is defined as a building with at least two floors
and between five and 20 residents. A landlord is denied a rooming house
certificate if there is a failure to comply with the changed regulations.
Oberlin landlord and resident David Sonner, along with a group of five
other landlords adversely affected by the 1996 ordinance, filed suit
against the city for unfair and unjust practices. The city has appealed
and the suit is still pending. Since then, the city’s housing enforcement
rights have been revoked by the Ohio Board of Building Standards and
have just recently been reinstated.
(photo by Kate Silverman)
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The landlords, who were denied rooming house licenses due to a failure
to comply with the new regulations, claim that the city misapplied the
law in what Sonner calls “retroactive enforcement.” It is the assertion
of the landlords that the old buildings should not have to comply to
new laws if there is not an apparent fire hazard.
Furthermore, the landlords claim that Oberlin College, which operates
two rooming houses — Old Barrows and Allencroft — was not made to comply
with the new regulations. They believe they were denied licenses for
the same faults the College has, and they claim that the city has shown
unjust favoritism.
While involved in the suit with the city, Sonner and his group also
sued the College in response to an April 1998 letter from College President
Nancy Dye to students and parents. The letter listed all rooming houses
and landlords who had been denied certificates by the city, advising
that these houses were unsafe and should not be rented by students.
Sonner called Dye’s letter was a “fraudulent display of concern for
fire and building. He said that the College did not inspect the houses
before issuing the letter and sued on the grounds of “defamation and
tortuous interference with business.”
Last December, Sonner dismissed the suit against the College. “I couldn’t
afford the legal costs with the city and the College at the same time,”
he said. The suit can be brought up again within a year, and Sonner
intends to pursue it regardless of whether he’s, “left standing or wobbling.”
Sonner is also demanding an apology from to College, for what was stated
in the letter, and monetary compensation for business lost as a result.
Carol Graham, a rooming house owner who did not have a license from
the city, found her name on the College’s list of “bad houses” in 1998.
Dye’s letter “has destroyed my business,” she said.
To comply with new regulations and to avoid being designated a rooming
house, she was forced to reduce the number of residents in her two houses
from six and seven respectively, to four in each. “That’s eight out
of a possible 13 rooms,” Graham said.
While acknowledging that the College has to protect its interests in
ensuring the safety of its students, Graham said that landlords “weren’t
given a fair opportunity,” claiming that the College circulated the
letter without discussion or further examination of the houses in question.
Vice President of College Relations, Al Moran, said that the College
did not intend to harm or take away business from landlords. “The reason
the letter went out is because the president puts safety of students
first and foremost in this issue,” Moran said. “The bottom line is if
the city doesn’t grant a license to a boarding house, we don’t want
students to stay there. It’s not our job to judge whether the city justly
or unjustly granted licenses”
Calling the suit against the College “out of line,” Moran said that
Old Barrows and Allencroft were governed under state restrictions, in
which they were classified as “residence halls,” and therefore adhered
to a different set of regulations.
Addressing the possibility that the suit may be resumed by the landlords,
Moran said, “I’m not too worried. I don’t think there’s any merit to
the case.”
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