Man evicted from house for resisting warrantless inspections

[mikepdx]

A Pennsylvania man who refuses to allow city officials to enter his home without a warrant
has been forced out to stay in a hotel instead,
evicted by a notice posted on his door that forbids him from using or occupying the building he owns.

Borough Ordinance No. 1188 of Lansdowne, Penn., requires all rental properties – including the private
residence of the landlord, if he lives onsite – be subjected to annual inspections, with or without a warrant.

"I could not in good conscience agree to the terms of the license renewal, thus signing away my Fourth
Amendment rights," the homeowner said. "I explained this to the city and sent them U.S. Supreme Court
rulings demonstrating the city's ordinance as unconstitutional. I even offered to file the necessary forms unsigned."

City to homeowner: Let us in, or get out

[gewecke]

I wonder what the hell they cited as grounds to have the warrant issued?? That is really screwed!
I smell something bad going on there.
N9ZAS

[N_Jay]

Probably something like code violations.

[n5ims]

Based on the ordinance (link --> Rental Ordinance ) it appears that it is similar to how health code checks are done on businesses that prepare and serve food. The Borough of Lansdowne is required by this ordinance to inspect all rental property to verify that it meets all codes and is safe for folks to live in.

Since this inspection is required of all rental property (including the owner-occupied portions) and the owner "could not in good conscience agree to the terms of the license" they could've simply removed the renter from the other portion of the duplex and no longer rented it out. This would've removed them from this requirement and there wouldn't have been any problems.

This sounds like another case of crying "what about my rights?" while totally ignoring the other, equally important part of "what are my responsibilities that go along with those rights".

[Thayne]

Back in 1972, in a suburb of Denver, I had a similar experience because I wouldn't let the city in my new house. The reason was the water bill was too low, but the meter was outside so I said no.
To make a long story short they shut off my water, and I finally had to show them the "illegal" well in the basement.
The water table was so high there I put in a sump pit--but an old country boy friend helped me use a sand point & slide hammer to go down 20 feet more thru the botton of the sump pit.
I ended up getting to keep it because they never realized the sump pump was really a well pump!

A guy has a right to keep water out of the basement--right?

It never ran low and I watered the grass for three years and saved a ton of money

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by Thayne

Back in 1972, in a suburb of Denver, I had a similar experience because I wouldn't let the city in my new house. The reason was the water bill was too low, but the meter was outside so I said no.
To make a long story short they shut off my water, and I finally had to show them the "illegal" well in the basement.
The water table was so high there I put in a sump pit--but an old country boy friend helped me use a sand point & slide hammer to go down 20 feet more thru the botton of the sump pit.
I ended up getting to keep it because they never realized the sump pump was really a well pump!

A guy has a right to keep water out of the basement--right?

It never ran low and I watered the grass for three years and saved a ton of money

I assume you don't use the water from a 20 foot well for other then watering the lawn and there are no interconnects between the systems, and none of your "well water" has to be handled by the sewer system to which you are billed based on water consumption?

OR . . . . .

Are you the poster-boy for why these types of inspections are required?

[milf]

Buy the land, get mineral and water rights... Do what you please.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by milf

Buy the land, get mineral and water rights... Do what you please.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz, Sorry wrong answer.

There are many health and safety codes that come in to play.

Thanks for playing.

[poltergeisty]

It's all bureaucratic BS, plain and simple. No need to argue semantics, i.e interpretation of said "law". Fine folks who pay for water and sewer find their bills go up all the time. And for what? Oh, the mosquito repellents they spray all over. Here in my town they play the same sht, and we have all the water in the bloody world! Water is always a hot topic in any town meting. It's a shame.

It's amazing how much BS one has to go through if they want their own slice of back country.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by poltergeisty

It's amazing how much BS one has to go through if they want their own slice of back country.

Yep, that is right, Health and Safety codes are all BS.

And houses should be sold as-is with no code inspection. Just twist the wires together going to the hot tub heater. Yea, bub, that duck tape will work fine. It is twice as good as electrical tape. If you run out band-aids make a good substitute.

What? A vacuum breaker between a supply and drain line? What for, water only goes one way.

Just put a tee between the well and the city line. That way we can switch back and forth any time we like.

[poltergeisty]

I'm not complaining about civil commonsense in respect to utilities, etc. I'm complaining about the LACK of commonsense with local politics.

And I don't recall mentioning anything about Red Green.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by poltergeisty

I'm not complaining about civil commonsense in respect to utilities, etc. I'm complaining about the LACK of commonsense with local politics.

And I don't recall mentioning anything about Red Green.

Define the line before whining about where it is.

[poltergeisty]

Exactly. Where is the line drawn when it comes to bureaucrats?