The City of Detroit has issued a press release detailing a new ordinance which requires landlords to provide an approved container for the removal of tenants' personal property when an eviction is to occur and to remove the container within 48 hours of the eviction.

PRESS RELEASES:  FOR RELEASE: January 3, 2007

DETROIT LANDLORDS MUST ABIDE BY NEW TENANT EVICTION ORDINANCE OR BE FINED

Today, Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick and Chief Judge Marilyn Atkins of the 36th District Court, while standing in front of a home where an eviction was taking place, announced landlords of rental properties in Detroit must abide by the new tenant eviction ordinance or be fined as much as $10,000. The enforcement of the ordinance went into effect January 2, 2007.

The new ordinance requires the owner or operator of a property to provide an approved container, accessible from the side or rear, for disposal of the tenant's personal property when an eviction is to occur. The container must be removed from the property within 48 hours of the eviction.

Landlords and bailiffs must follow the new eviction processes being implemented by the 36th District Court.

"We have worked closely with Mayor Kilpatrick's Administration to develop an efficient process that we hope will benefit both the landlords and the citizens of Detroit," said Chief Judge Marylin Atkins of the 36th District Court. "We will evaluate the new process at the end of 90-days to determine if any changes are needed."

When an owner or operator of rental property obtains an order of eviction from the 36th District Court, the owner or operator is responsible to do the following as it pertains to removal of the tenant's personal property:

• Prior to removal of the tenant's personal property, the owner or operator must obtain a large movable or roll-off container and place it on a private portion of the rental property.
• The roll-off container must be of sufficient size to hold all of the tenant's personal property including, but not limited to furniture, appliances, clothing and the like.
• The roll-off container must be accessible from the side as opposed to the top of the container.
• Court Bailiffs must place all of the tenant's personal property in the container.
• Once all of the tenant's property is placed in the roll-off container, the owner or operator must remove the container from the property within forty-eight (48) hours.
• If the roll-off container and the personal property are not removed within forty-eight (48) hours, the owner and/or operator will receive a blight violation ticket with fines ranging from two hundred dollars ($200.00) to ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) depending on the volume of the personal property.
• Failure to obtain a container to dispose of a tenant's property will result in the issuance of a blight violation ticket with fines ranging from two hundred dollars ($200.00) to ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00).

Fines will be determined using the following criteria: type of solid waste; nature of the violation; duration of the violation; preventability of the violation; potential and actual effect on the surrounding neighborhood or the environment; and the number of previous violations or efforts to comply with law.

"As a life long Detroiter, there is not a time when I can remember when a tenant eviction did not contribute to the blight of a neighborhood," Mayor Kilpatrick said.

As part of the old process the personal possessions of the evicted were placed at the curb and they sometimes remained there for weeks, which created blight for nearby homes.

"Some portion of those belongings usually ended up down the street on the lawn of another home, and made the neighborhood look dirty. This new process should help to keep our neighborhoods cleaner in the NEXT Detroit," Mayor Kilpatrick said.

In September, the Detroit City Council unanimously voted to amend Section 22-2-84 of city code, changing the process for discarding the belongings of an evicted tenant. Mayor Kilpatrick and his Illegal Dumping Taskforce originally proposed the amendments in May as part of a larger effort to help reduce blight in City neighborhoods.

A letter detailing the new ordinance was mailed to Detroit landlords at the end of December.

Landlords may contact Waste Management at 1-800-796-9696 x999 to arrange the purchase of a roll-off container. Any questions about the new eviction process should be directed to 36th District Court.