Minutes of Headwaters Landlord Association General Meeting
Date: April 16, 2012
Call to order: A general meeting of the Headwaters Landlord Association was held in Beltrami Electric Cooperative conference room, Bemidji, Minnesota on April 16, 2012. The meeting convened at 7:01 pm, President Duane Sea, presiding, and Jessica Sarauer, note taker.
Board of Directors in attendance: Duane Sea, Jeff Grabowski, Terry Duy, Harry Aylesworth Lorrie Richardson,
Board of Directors not in attendance: Ben Hein, Kathy Guess (excused), Jeff Janiksela (excused0, Andrew Erholtz (excused)
Guest speaker: Jerry Linke, City of Bemidji rental property inspector gave a presentation on inspection expectations. Inspections are based on the property maintenance code (provided handout) and he talked about what they look for and why. He mentioned the Landlords and Tenants: Rights and Responsibility. If you don’t have this document, it is available online for free or can be shipped to you for free. He also has some copies in his office. Lorrie will go to his office and pick some up for members who do not have a copy. Jerry stressed that inspectors do not have any control over leases; those are between the landlord and tenant (he gets complaints from tenants often). He went on to say that according to Minnesota Statute, a landlord has to give adequate notice to go into a home (24 hours), unless it’s an emergency. If no one is there and you go into their house you must leave a note saying that you were there and what you did. If you do not do this, the tenant could get all of their rent back.
Inspectors would like a two week advance notice for inspections and if the scheduled times do not work for the landlord, just call the inspector and reschedule.
He then talked about a form he created for inspections and handed the form out to everyone. He talked about the main points that he looked at: ground fault interrupters (passed around a handout to look at), chimney liners if unit has gas water heater or gas furnace venting into chimney (passed around a handout to look at), gas valves – particularly finding and replacing grease valves (passed around a grease valve), water shutoffs, reduced pressure devices on furnaces (passed around a handout to look at), outside faucets (passed around a handout to look at), dryer venting pipes, windows on first floor need locking windows, house numbers must be easily seen on exterior of house (contrasting colors), and decks and rails must be secure. If Jerry finds something that needs to be fixed and you are unable to get to it in the allotted time frame, call him or the other inspector and let them know.
Jerry explained that the number of occupants in the house is defined by the number of bedrooms. A bedroom is defined as 70 square feet per first person and every person after needs 50 square feet and you can only have 4 unrelated people in a house (even if 5 bedrooms). Parking is a zoning issue and you need 1 spot per bedroom plus 1 more.
He handed out a few more handouts: 3 strike rule (he explained the process and emphasized that he isn’t in charge of this), recreational fire regulations, crime free addendum (needs to be on all leases next year), business cards for himself and the other inspector Joe Swenson, and a list of websites to use for background checks.
Rental permits are good for 2 years and the statement that says that you have been inspected is required on the bottom of the permit.
Jerry Linke, Mike Miller, and Joe Swenson are all certified inspectors and construction inspectors.
Lastly, he talked about how some things are grandfathered in to the laws (i.e. ceiling heights and duplexes in non-residential zones that are already in place) and that inspectors have the authority to override anything that isn’t affecting health and safety.
Speaker Aimee Imoff: Aimee is the co-owner and founder of Northwoods Rentals. She is an associate member of the HLA. Her company is a web-based resource that renters with available property. The website is forrentbemidji.com. She started the company in February 2012 and has had 1 contact a day about rentals and advertises with the Buy Line, NWTC, Facebook, and visit Bemidji. To list a property, go to the website, click listing tab, fill out form (add pictures and any information that you would like), submit it, and within 24 hours it will be up on the site. The cost is 10 dollars a week. She asked everyone to check out the site and if anyone has feedback, let her now.
Darrell Carter Update: Darrell Carter reported that about 10 people have filed claims against the city. He also talked about developing the format and the fact that the 75 dollar filing fee would be paid back if you prevail in the claim. It was also cleared up that the effective date to use would be January 1, 2012. If you are having problems with the form, leave your name with the BOD and they will assist you. A deadline of April 30, 2012 was set as the day to have claims in. Also remember that the proper P.O. Box to send the paperwork to is P.O. Box 306.
Treasurer report: Duane gave the Treasurer report. The opening balance was $1115.39. A bill was paid to the webpage provider or $21.90 and a deposit was made for a dues payment from Elroy Erickson in the amount of $50.00.
Unfinished Business
Proposed Budget for 2012-13
Duane reported the budget for 2012-13 to be $2420 and most of the money would go to secretarial fees and meeting rooms.
Status of bylaws
Bylaws were approved by the BOD. They will be put on the website.
Status of Incorporation
The HLA is fully incorporated as a 501(c)3 with the state of Minnesota.
Campus community breakfast
Jeff G. reported on this event. This was a breakfast with students and landlords and he said some key issues brought up were on street parking issue – prices, amounts, and deposits.
Crime free multi-housing program
Jeff G. reported on the training and handed out an outline of important things for application process (added get date of birth to Application Process). He gave advice for looking up tenants – observe way tenant looks at rental, never show on a Friday and let them move in right away. He also mentioned that you have to keep applications on file for 2 years and you can ask for SSN when doing credit checks (the police told them to get DOB and SSN ((or passport number)). A lawyer who sues landlords also presented at the program. They will be having two more trainings and the cost is 40 dollars (you can sign up for mailing).
New Business
Nominations
Duane read the new bylaws in respect to elections of officers. It was decided to poll the membership to see if there was interest. Terry will collect names of people interested. Terry also mentioned that he would stay on the BOD for next year and the BOD talked about the importance of keeping the HLA active.
Professional squatters
This topic was brought up because Jerry’s friend had a squatter move into one of his rentals and changed the locks. It took several weeks and several hundred dollars to get him out. Duane mentioned that professional squatters are moving from city to city and taking advantage of abandoned houses.
Announcements
The next general meeting will be in June.
Adjournment
Terry Duy moved and Lorrie Richardson seconded to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 9:27.
Minutes submitted by Jessica Sarauer