New Britain to reach compromise with landlords

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (WTNH) -- New Britain and landlords in the city have been feuding over a hike in fees. Now it seems a compromise has been reached, but is it a done deal? And what does it mean for tenants?

Some angry landlords gathered outside New Britain City Hall earlier this year. They were angry about a registration fee the city wanted to charge landlords who don't live in the city. Now, the Mayor's spokesman says they've reached a compromise.

"The Mayor's been listening to a lot of the concerns from landlords and addressed some of them," said Phil Sherwood, Mayor's spokesman.

The previous plan charged absentee landlords a $150 registration fee for every unit they own. This compromise lowers it to $50 for the first three apartments, $40 for the next 10, and then $35 for every unit after that. However, the lawyer for some of the city's biggest landlords, Dan Silver, says his clients will still fight it.

"The city is still attempting to balance the budget deficit on the backs of out of town landlords, and we still feel there are great legal issues that still have to be resolved by the court in this," said Silver.

The city says the money from the registration fee will go to pay for blight officers. However, attorney Silver says, under Connecticut law, those fees can only be used for the expenses of licensing landlords, not for anti-blight measures.

"In this case, even a $50 fee has no bearing on the cost of administering this fee, as there are no costs to the city of New Britain," Silver said. "All a landlord has to do is submit an application and have his name on file."

"This will stand. This is going to be the law of the land. It is going to prevail,"Sherwood said. "Unfortunately there is a small group of landlords who just want to run their property into the ground and continue to collect the rent, and they'll stand in the way of any effort."

The city will have a public hearing on the fee changes, and opponents have a court date to stop it scheduled for March.