×

City deems home a rental

An Altoona woman who’s lived for 53 years in a house now owned by her daughter is upset that the city has designated the home as a rental — with inspections every three years and an annual fee — because the daughter, who charges no rent, doesn’t live there.

“I don’t feel it’s right,” said Annetta Grein, 77, of the 1500 block of 21st Avenue, with whom the city has scheduled a rental inspection Sept. 3. “This is my home.”

The designation is no mistake, said city solicitor Dan Stants.

The city’s rental inspection ordinance defines a “residential rental unit” as a dwelling occupied by people “who (are) not the legal owner of record, regardless of familiar relationship and/or regardless of whether rent is charged” — except for hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts.

Without such provisions, the ordinance would allow landlords who took under-the-table cash payments to claim they weren’t charging rent, Stants said. In addition, exceptions for immediate family would metastasize to include grandparents and grandchildren, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews and cousins such that “the exception would swallow the rule,” Stants said.

“You can’t carve out exceptions for every situation,” he stated.

Objections like Grein’s to the requirement have arisen previously, resulting in hearings before magisterial district judges, who’ve ruled in the city’s favor, Stants said.

As far as he knows, none of those cases have been appealed to Blair County Court, Stants said.

The issue has also arisen in the context of student housing, when parents have purchased homes here for children attending Penn State Altoona, he said.

Those parents learned eventually that to avoid triggering student housing restrictions, they had to place such homes in their children’s names, he said — although City Council this month introduced an ordinance that would eliminate the renting of space in such homes to others not related by “blood, marriage or legal adoption.”

The Grein house on 21st Avenue first came into the family when Grein’s sister Phyllis bought it for their mother, Grein said.

At the time, Grein’s daughter, Tracy, was 2 years old, Grein said.

Eventually, their mother, Phyllis, Grein, her daughter and Grein’s son lived there, Grein said.

Phyllis died in 2011 and left the house to Tracy, who lives in Virginia, Grein said.

Twice before, once in the early 2000s, and in 2017, the city designated the house a rental property, but both times, the family got the matter “straightened out,” Grein said.

It appears that won’t happen this time.

Grein’s arrangement calls for Grein to pay utilities and for Tracy to pay the taxes, Grein said.

Grein’s lawyer Tom Forr said the issue “has been going on for years.”

“Obviously, she’s not a tenant,” Forr said, speaking in layman’s, rather than legal terms.

“I don’t feel they are right to come into my home,” Grein said, anticipating the inspection.

Rental inspections ensure that properties are safe, secure, clean and free of life-safety hazards, Stants said.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today