Board of Aldermen — 3/22/16 Page 5
actions of the tenants. The city provides a Tenant Bill of Rights and | had one tenant give it to me. Where’s
the Landlord Bill of Rights? | don’t want to be discriminated against. | think the tenants should be cited. There
are unexpected consequences of the law. At 0 Kinsley Street there was a narcotic treatment center and they
rented one of our apartments adjoining their parking lot and because we had to comply with the code
enforcement for the lead paint we had to evict the two tenants because we would be dealing with lead and we
didn’t want to be sued for any kind of contamination. The clinic said that was okay because the apartment
was vacant and today | got a call saying my sign was missing on the front lawn in front of 0 Kinsley Street. |
went down and the tenant had moved out and took all the signs and the fire extinguisher. | also understand
that | am guilty of not inspecting properly if there is no smoke detector. | don’t want to have to be going around
checking on these apartments and | respect peoples’ privacy. | think this law as written is unequitable, one-
sided and incomplete and it needs to go back to the committee. | think there needs to be a differential on
some of the fines depending on the severity.
Mr. Fred McManus, 108 Pine Hill Road
| have owned rental property in Nashua for over 32 years. | have very few problems with code enforcement. |
agree with all of the past speakers. | really think this should be tabled so that we can have a chance to have
input and involve some other people like tenants. | don’t have any other income; it’s going to be passed on to
the tenant at some point in time because of the operating cost.
Ms. Fran Ryan, Courtland Street
| am the treasurer of a landlord organization and | fight bills for landlords in Concord, | help write them but here
in Nashua we have a brand new ordinance relative to landlords and it got by me. | don’t know if everyone
realizes that it doesn’t just impact landlords, it impacts restaurants and | don’t see a whole lot of restaurant
folks here. | bet they don’t know anything about this. There are a lot of things that are missing in this
ordinance. There are a lot of things that code enforcement stated to us that is not written in the ordinance.
Down the road new code enforcement officers may not know what was told to us. | highly recommend that we
table this and get input from landlords and work at either killing this or getting this written so that it’s suitable
and it touches on all points relative to landlords, restaurants, etc. | agree with everything that was said tonight
and | am very concerned.
Mr. Bob Keating, 5 Coburn Woods
My wife and | have had several properties here in Nashua for the past 30 years as rental units. I’m a little
concerned with a number of landlords about what would be the ramifications of and | think the first is that this
ordinance comes right out of a state law that was enacted in 2010 that allowed communities to be able to do
this and to the best of my knowledge about the ordinance; the only difference as we speak about it in terms of
enforcement is that it allows code enforcement people to be able to issue essentially tickets where previously it
had to go to court. As a member of the Granite State Organizing Project | have seen repeatedly people saying
they have had difficulties. There have been code enforcement officers speak at various times about the vast
majority of landlords has demonstrated an interest in good quality housing. There are a few who do not
respond and it provides some leverage that was not existing under current ordinances. It provides a timely
way to address grievances. It does have checks and balances as it always has. With regard to removal of
smoke detectors, there are mechanisms to be able to fine tenants also. | think it’s a good piece and | do
appreciate the concerns of people feeling like they need to provide input. Overall | think it’s a positive initiative
and will support all of our goals in having safe, affordable housing for all.
Mr. Bernie Cote, 22 Greenlay Street
| wanted to talk about the Charron Avenue project that’s over a million dollars. | can’t see the advantage to
that. I’ve lived in Nashua for over 70 years and it’s been like that for over 25 years and nobody has
complained about it. Now, what are we going to do, put a rotary in there with yield signs which half the people
don’t even bother. I’m against spending a million dollars. The other thing is forget what they do in Concord,
