L&I plans spot checks of apartment buildings

By Patrick Kerkstra and John Sullivan

Inquirer Staff Writers

The Department of Licenses and Inspections hopes to begin spot checks of small apartment buildings this fall, with the goal of preventing tragedies like the fire-escape collapse that killed 25-year-old Steven Lee early Sunday.

While warning that no inspection program can hope to identify all unsafe buildings, L&I Commissioner Fran Burns said her staff was poised to begin checking the safety of a small number of apartment buildings within months, focusing on high-density neighborhoods with frequent code violations.

The new spot inspections of smaller apartment buildings are one of several programs and potential laws aimed at preventing similar tragedies that city officials and political leaders said they were exploring yesterday.

The problem is nettlesome. Philadelphia's housing stock is old and prone to safety problems, but the city cannot afford to hire the fleets of inspectors that would be required to routinely check all multifamily dwellings.

That means, Burns said, that the city must focus on deterrence. Spot inspections could help, she said, but she was careful not to oversell their potential impact.

"We don't want to create the expectation that we would inspect 500,000 properties a year or something," said Burns, referring to the total number of properties in Philadelphia.

City Controller Alan Butkovitz, a frequent L&I critic, said any spot-inspection program should resemble IRS audits: relatively rare, but ruthless enough to scare would-be scofflaws into compliance.

"Very few people get audited in a year, but when they do audit you, they extract their pound of flesh. It can lead to criminal prosecutions," said Butkovitz. "Imagine a random inspection system where there were serious fines and penalties and quick enforcement."

Legislation

City Council members Jim Kenney and Frank DiCicco are taking a different approach. They plan to introduce legislation this month that would require owners of taller buildings to pay for private inspections, and to file those reports with the city.

As drafted, the bill applies only to buildings that are six stories or taller, and thus would not have applied to the building where Lee fell to his death. Yesterday, though, Kenney said he was open to considering amendments that would broaden the bill's scope.

"There's no perfect solution in a city this size and this age, but hopefully there are things we can do that will minimize these sorts of tragedies," Kenney said.

Landlords

There is a law on the books that in theory should help deter property owners from letting their buildings develop unsafe conditions. Passed by City Council in 2006, the "rental suitability" law requires landlords to get city certificates, verifying that their properties are safe, each time a new tenant signs a lease.

But the bill was challenged in court by landlord organizations before it went into effect, and in April 2008, the city suspended enforcement of it. Ever since, the city has been trying to come up with a revised version that landlords and tenant groups can agree on.

Tenant advocates like lawyer Phil Lord said the bill, if enforced, would improve conditions for renters without burdening the understaffed L&I office. The ordinance requires landlords to "attest" to the safety of their buildings to get city approval to rent.

Though landlords could attest falsely, tenant advocates argue that most would either fix up their buildings or pay private inspectors to vouch for the structural safety of their properties.

"We were trying to create a climate where landlords self-regulate," said Lord. "This requires them to say the property is in good shape, and if they lie about that, there are penalties."

An attorney in the city's law department who is meeting with landlords and tenant groups said the two sides should reach a resolution within weeks, or at most a few months.

None of these regulations or potential safeguards, however, would have been enough to guarantee that the fire escape above the Monk's bar and restaurant at 16th and Spruce Streets held firm.

When asked if L&I inspectors would have found the flaws in the fire escape if they had examined it before Sunday's collapse, Burns paused, then said, "It could have gone either way."

"There's a good chance that we might not have gone to the railing, or that it would have felt sturdy," Burns said. "I can't speculate on that."

After the incident, inspectors wrote up the property for multiple structural problems. Monk's, which is expected to stay closed at least until Friday, met city codes except for a few minor problems, Burns said.

Bruce Brotman, the building owner, said he regularly maintains the building and replaced the roof several years ago. Brotman, whose family has owned the building for more than 20 years, said he was working with city inspectors to address any violations. Burns confirmed that Brotman had been cooperating.