Landlords of Black Hawk, Inc. Founder & Charter Member of Landlords of Iowa, Inc. PO Box 742, Waterloo IA 50704 www.blackhawklandlords.org GENERAL MEETING Thursday, June 20, 2013 Elk s Club 6:00-Social 6:30-Dinner 7:00 -Program WEBSITE Tony Miller and Sue Schauls unveil the NEW Landlords of Black Hawk website!! The presentation will include training on posting your available units on the website. Listing ON THE WEBSITE is now included with Membership Renewal for 2013 at no cost! Dinner Reservations are due by Tuesday at 5pm, Please RSVP to Mark Pregler at 319-939-4417 or BlackHawkLandlord@gmail.com Dinner is $12 at the door, served at 6:30 pm, no charge to attend program, please be there by 7pm for program only.
LANDLORDS OF BLACK HAWK BOARD POSITIONS POSITION: President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Membership Newsletter Programs Publicity Vendor Membership Hospitality Legislative Legal Website Vendor Board Member NAME: Wally Parrish Mark Pregler Rachel Page Sue Schauls Sue Schauls Sue Schauls Tony Miller Chase Keller PH. NUMBER: EMAIL: 290-0335 wparrish@wparrishlaw.com 939-4417 mark@budget-services.net 464-2862 pagefamily@butler-bremer.com 290-7843 schauls3@mchsi.com 290-7843 schauls3@mchsi.com 290-7843 schauls3@mchsi.com 234-1407 cvps@outlook.com 231-1160 kellerc@mac.com Mark Pregler Gary Olmstead Mark Pregler Wally Parrish Jane Young 939-4417 231-8844 939-4417 290-0335 232-7398 mark@budget-services.net gandnolm@cfu.net mark@budget-services.net wparrish@wparrishlaw.com jayo2000@mchsi.com Tony Miller 234-1407 cvps@outlook.com
P AGE 3 June 4, 2013 - WATERLOO, Iowa --- An ordinance that would require licenses for Waterloo landlords and their rental units will wait for another day. The Waterloo City Council voted Monday to put off discussion of the new ordinance until a later date. Mayor Buck Clark said some language in the ordinance needs to be worked on before the ordinance is ready for a vote. According to Clark, Mark Pregler of the Landlords of Black Hawk County had submitted a letter Monday contending that some aspects of the landlord ordinance would conflict with the nuisance ordinance approved by the council last month. The new ordinance would replace a 1981 rental inspection ordinance and would include new fees. Under the ordinance, anyone who owns rental property would need to get a license and register each rental unit for $25 per year. The current ordinance requires the fee only at inspection time, which happens once every five years. The new fees would pay for the city's rental inspection program, and the current inspection fees would be eliminated. The city also expects it could step up to three years between inspections, rather than five. Landlords have been skeptical of the proposal, saying it would be more expensive and punish good landlords for the actions, or inaction, of bad ones. The new program would generate an estimated $175,000 to $200,000 per year, which would be an increase of $10,000 to $35,000 over the current arrangement. READ THE COURIER STORY In Other news. Math skills not required for policymakers. One questions the thoroughness of the City Council Members when contemplating new policy since clearly a 400% increase in fees for Landlords from $25 every fifth year to $25 every year should net a significantly larger increase than reported in the article cited above.
P AGE 4 Landlords of Black Hawk Program Calendar June 20, 2013 See the new Landlords of Black Hawk website New Website Unveiled! Tony Miller and Sue Schauls will demonstrate the new features and design of the Landlords of Black Hawk website and field questions and ideas for continued enhancement. RSVP to Mark at 319-939-4417 or BlackHawkLandlord@gmail.com July 18, 2013 WORKSHOP How to Use the Landlords of Black Hawk WEBSITE Free sign up! August 15, 2013 Waterloo Pet Policies (tentative) Sept 19, 2013 Q& A Session with Lawmakers Sept 26-28-, 2013 Landlords of Iowa Convention at Isle of Capri in Waterloo! October 17, 2013 Eviction Process Tony Miller November 21, 2013 Annual VENDOR FAIR
P AGE 5 The Landlords of Black Hawk Board members have been working feverishly to have the updated website ready in time for Membership renewal. The enhancements of the website include the ability to use the website from smart phones and tablets such as ipads and netbooks. This will greatly enhance the ability for potential renters to use the updated website to locate available housing. With Members 2013 renewal, each member will be issued a username and password to login to the website to upload pictures and input information about the rental unit that Landlord has available or will have in the future. If you are technology challenged DON T WORRY workshops will be held to help all members get their property photos and information uploaded so that marking the unit available when the time comes will be easy with a few clicks on the Landlord of Black Hawk WEBSITE. Feel free to bring your laptop to this meeting to follow along online!
P AGE 6 CITY OF WATERLOO SPONSORS ANNUAL SPRING CITY-WIDE CLEAN-UP BUCK DAY Waterloo, Iowa May 3, 2013. Waterloo will hold its citywide Clean-up Buck Day Saturday, June 29, 2013, from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the Waste Management Services site at 3505 Easton Avenue in Waterloo. It is open to all City of Waterloo residents. I.D. will be requested. In order to defray costs, the following fees will be applied. Each vehicle entering the site will be charged $2.00. Major household appliances will be charged $1.00 each, limit 3. Tires will be charged $3.00 per tire for the first 4 tires; 5 through 8 tires will be charged $5.00 each. 9 and over will be charged $10.00 each. Residents are asked to have exact change to expedite their visit. ALLOWABLE ITEMS: Appliances: limit 3 per household, air conditioner, dehumidifier, freezer, refrigerator, clothes dryer, clothes washer, dishwasher, kitchen range, oven/stove, microwave oven, furnace, thermostat, water heater, etc. Tires: Automobile and pick-up truck tires (rim or no rim). General bulk item trash : Televisions, computers, furniture, lawn furniture, clothing, bedding, scrap lumber and building remodeling and repair scrap materials, carpet, house wares, toys, bicycles, etc. All Gas powered equipment: lawnmowers, weed eaters, tillers, snow blowers, etc. Power equipment must be drained of gas and oil prior to dumping. PROHIBITED ITEMS: No Garbage (please use your weekly garbage service) No Hazardous Materials No Paint No Liquids: fuels, oils, pharmaceuticals, etc. No Batteries No propane gas tanks No tractor or semi tires No yard waste or tree debris. Please use the yard waste dumpsite at the Waste Management Services site. The yard waste dumpsite will be open this date for patrons. Please remember to properly secure your loads when transporting them to the Easton Avenue facility. Use a tarp or enclose waste materials for safety and sanitation purposes. The City of Waterloo will not be responsible for any personal vehicle damage. Citizens are asked to cooperate with these established guidelines. Questions or concerns may be directed to Waste Management Services at (319) 291-4553.
P AGE 7 House File 356 an Act relating to the statute of limitation periods in bringing suit and executing a judgment in an action on a claim for rent. Section 1. Section 614.1, subsection 5, Code 2013, is amended to read as follows: 5. Written contracts judgments of courts not of record recovery of real property and rent. a. Those Except as provided in paragraph b, those founded on written contracts, or on judgments of any courts except those provided for in subsection 6, and those brought for the recovery of real property, within ten years. b. Those founded on claims for rent, within five years. (This is the change, up from two years) House File 495 an Act relating to the residential landlord and tenant laws and related forcible entry and detainer laws and making penalties applicable. NEW SUBSECTION. 3A. For rental agreements in which the rent does not exceed seven hundred dollars per month, a rental agreement shall not provide for a late fee that exceeds twelve dollars per day or a total amount of sixty dollars per month. For rental agreements in which the rent is greater than seven hundred dollars per month, a rental agreement shall not provide for a late fee that exceeds twenty dollars per day or a total amount of one hundred dollars per month. 6. Not deliberately or negligently destroy, deface, damage, impair or remove a part of the premises or knowingly permit a person to do so. If damage, defacement, alteration, or destruction of property by the tenant is intentional, the tenant may be criminally charged with criminal mischief pursuant to chapter 716. 7. The bad faith retention of a deposit by a landlord, or any portion of the rental deposit, in violation of this section shall subject the landlord to punitive damages twice the monthly rental payment in addition to actual damages.
P AGE 8 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION includes state dues to LANDLORDS OF IOWA, INC MEETINGS: 3rd Thursday of the month 6:00 Social Hour - 6:30 Dinner - 7:15 Program - Elk s Club Diner Reservations are due by Monday prior to meeting, please: RSVP to BlackHawkLandlord@gmail.com Membership basically limited to 2-3 (plus spouse). Please check ONE of the appropriate responses: One person who owns or manages rental property in Iowa Two people who together own or manage rental property in Iowa Owner(s) and manager(s) Member(s) Name: Rental Business name: Address: Vendor Name: Vendor Address: Primary Contact Phone: Other Phone: Email Address: Advertising Business Card in monthly newsletter for $48 per year... Advertise your rental units on www.blackhawklandlords.org for $100 per year... Add Business Logo on Website for $200 per year... Receive the newsletter in hardcopy mailed to your address on file for $18... Annual Association Dues... $60 TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED... $60 per year dues are due July 1 st each year. Membership is prorated at $5/month plus one full year for initial sign up. For example, join in April, please pay $75 for one quarter plus one year. Membership includes a CD of forms & samples beneficial to Landlords such as a sample lease, tenant application, and court filing forms. The CD is available to every member free of charge at the monthly meetings. Welcome to Landlord of Black hawk, Inc! Send application to: Landlords of Black Hawk, 2214 Regal Ave, Waterloo, Iowa 50702 Signature: Date: Reasons to Join Landlords of Black Hawk, Inc. trade association for Landlords in Black Hawk County: Educational program the 3 rd Thursday of each month at the Elk s Club in Waterloo. Networking with local Landlords. Membership in Landlords of Iowa included with renewal. Access to Lobbyist updates. Legislative voice to our elected officials. CD of Landlord/Tenant forms and sample documents. The Landlords of Black Hawk monthly program is top notch. Each month speakers provide training and insight to members. Topics covered have included the eviction process, city code enforcement, debt collection, carpet maintenance, real estate investment, home inspection and many more areas of interest. Another benefit of attending the meetings on a regular basis is the sharing at the tables. Table conversation is an opportunity to tap into the experience of seasoned Landlords and to share your experiences too. It is always nice to find out that you are not the only Landlord with issues. See you next month! http://www.blackhawklandlords.org
P AGE 9 Board Meeting Elk s Club Notes June 6, 2013 BOARD MINUTES: Present were President Wallace Parrish, Mark Pregler, Jane Young, Jane Reppas and Tony Miller. RENTAL REGISTRATION: Spent a good part of the first hour discussing recent city venture towards registering rental units and licensing landlords. There are many questions, mis-statements and potentially illegal paragraphs within the city's proposed ordinance. Based on recent city sponsored ordinances and their lock of interest in actually heeding our advice, it was decided that the Black Hawk Landlords will NOT actively participate in pointing out to the city of Waterloo what is wrong or needs to be fixed, because the City of Waterloo will still proceed in enforcing this upon us without regard to our input. Why would we want to help them cost us more money? WEBSITE: Spent another 30 minutes discussing the website. Why isn't it up yet? many thoughts passed along by Jane Young. Most likely supposition was June 1st arrived and Forbin realized they weren't finished yet, therefore made a few adjustments asking for "testing" among board members before "going live". Mark & Tony volunteered to give it some testing. It was also discussed adjusting the ad sizes to accommodate business card sized ads instead of modifying what we are given by our advertisers. (Tony posed the question to Forbin and their reply was nothing about advertising, sizing or panel access for this was discussed and implied it may cost more) JUNE MEETING: It was agreed that the idea of the picnic party with the neighborhood associations was "too little, too late", and should be deferred until July meeting, if at all. That leaves us with the Website. Mark will not be in attendance, a couple of others were noted as not being able to attend. The website will be unveiled and trailing will begin at the June 20, 2013 meeting. It may take more than one meeting to get all the Members up to speed and at least one workshop will be held to assist members in adding photograph and pertinent information about each of their rental units to the website for future listing when available to rent. Respectfully submitted for Rachel Page by, Mark Pregler Reported June 14, 2013 Credit Debit 5/16/2013 3357 Elk's Club $494.00 $8,921.85 6/1/2013 deposit Dividend $1.98 $8,923.83 6/14/2013 deposit Meeting & Dues $559.00 $9,482.83 projected VGM Forbin for website $3,000.00 $6,482.83 Petty Cash $140.00 Legal Fund In reserve for legal $1,596.48 Credit Debit Balance
P AGE 10 Nuisance property measure adopted by Waterloo City Council May 20, 2013 - WATERLOO, Iowa --- An ordinance cracking down on crime-plagued properties is on the books. City Council members voted unanimously Monday to adopt the chronic nuisance property measure to clean up homes, apartments and businesses which rack up frequent calls for police services. Neighborhood association leaders hailed the new ordinance as the first step to dealing with rental units where tenant actions are driving down property values and harming their quality of life. Some landlords panned the new rules as unfairly and possibly illegally punishing them for problems police are unable to resolve. I have no doubt this will help improve Waterloo because it s helping improve communities all over the country, said Safety Services Director Dan Trelka, who drafted the ordinance after reviewing similar laws elsewhere. Members of the West Central Neighborhood Association, located around Baltimore Field, have been attending council meetings religiously for months to press for adoption of the ordinance. We would really like to thank you for everything you ve done, association member Carole Gustafson told council members. The ordinance declares a property to be a nuisance if it generates three or more calls for police service in one year resulting in an arrest, probable cause for an arrest, a citation or warning. Calls don t count if they are reported by the property owner. Domestic violence calls are also excluded. After three incidents, the property owner would get a letter explaining the situation and requiring them to submit a written plan of action to abate the nuisance. Continued on next page...
P AGE 11 Nuisance property measure adopted by Waterloo City Council Continued form previous page Failure to submit the plan within 10 days would result in a $100 fine and any future police calls to the property would be billed $50 per hour. Mark Pregler, a property manager and member of the Black Hawk County Landlords Association, said the ordinance was akin to charging a car dealer for selling a vehicle to someone who was then cited for speeding. Weren t you required to read Orwell s 1984 like I was? he asked. It s illegal and we ve proven it. Something of this nature may very well come to a lawsuit in the future. Wayne Johnson, of Evansdale, also opposed the ordinance. Why is the landlord responsible for the tenant when the cops don t even give a ticket out? Johnson said. Write the ticket. You re blaming the landlord for stuff they can t control. City Attorney Jim Walsh said the ordinance was a balancing act between property owners rights and the need to resolve issues genuinely hurting neighborhoods. But Trelka believes the ordinance will be enforceable. I tried to stay far, far away from any actions that are contrary to local, state or federal law, he said. I think this is very, very defendable in a court of law. Code enforcement violations mowing violations, junk cars, unkempt yards, etc. are covered under separate city ordinances and do not count as one of the three strikes allowed under the chronic nuisance property ordinance. READ THE COURIER STORY Come to a Landlord s meeting! You never know what you will learn! 3rd Thursday of the month at the Elk s Club
Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity Received 200 Boxes of Tile For Sale at Ebay Store Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity received a donation of almost 200 boxes of new tile. Of course we continue to get fantastic items in our restore perfect for fix-up projects! The tile and many other items are available for online purchase and local pick up at http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-boxes- Daltile-Ceramic-Mosaic-2-x2-Wall-Tile-and-2-Boxes-Trim-Tile- /370828664439?pt=Tile_Flooring&hash=item56571c5e77 Bids starting at $10 per box! Wow! P AGE 12 LLBH Board Meetings 1st Thursday of each month at Noon at the Elk s Club. All members are welcome to attend.