Tuesday morning the Wichita City Council approved a new ordinance that allows landlords to be fined up to $2,500 for evicting a tenant when they complain about terrible living conditions. “In this case we have people who reached out over the years that are tired of a lack of response from their landlord and then when the city comes out and inspects a finds a violation and writes them up, they end up getting evicted. Well that’s not right,” said Brandon Johnson, the city council member for district one. Johnson says this is an ongoing issue which is why the city council is approving an ordinance that will fine landlords up to twenty five hundred dollars for evicting someone in retaliation. “I really would like to see in the event of a landlord or slumlord not responding there’s some judgement,” said Johnson. After next Tuesday landlords can be fired for unfairly threatening tenants with eviction. If you have a challenge you can come to city hall, meet with a legal expert, show evidence, and then it goes from there. Any convictions will be posted of the city of Wichita website for all to see. The council says there are already state laws protecting tenants but this is taking it one step further. “There are laws on the book that prohibit landlord retaliation. We’ve just never had a mechanism to actually enforce it so this is what this was,” said Mike Hoheisel, a city council member for district one. Both Johnson and Hoheisel say they’re excited to pass this ordinance and bring more protections to tenants in Wichita but this is just the beginning. “We have a lot more work that we need to do when it comes around evictions and these records,” said Johnson. He thinks when there’s a continuous problem happening in the city it’s up to the council to step up and help.
Source: KAKE – News
