[Adopted 2-25-1993 by Ord. No. 1461; amended in its entirety 4-17-2003 by Ord. No.
1713 (Ch. 5, Part 5, of the 1986 Code of Ordinances)]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any construction, alteration, repair, renovation, reconstruction
and/or redecoration of any structure which requires a building permit
under the BOCA Code.
Any person, partnership, firm, corporation or entity engaged
in the business of building repairs.
The City of Washington Zoning and Building Department.
Conduct by any person, whether an employee, agent, owner
or independent contractor, by soliciting, offering or accepting contracts
on behalf of a business licensed or required to be licensed under
this article.
Any building or portion of a building which is used or intended
to be used for an owner's residence or any other person's
purposes.
A.
No building repair business person, firm, corporation or entity shall
engage in the business of building repair, alteration or solicitation
thereof unless that repair business first obtains a license from the
Department.
B.
The applicant for the license shall pay an initial license fee and/or
annual renewal fee of $100 and shall make application on forms designed
and supplied by the Department.
C.
The information required for licensure of an applicant shall be determined
by regulations established by the Department.
D.
Display of license. The licensee shall display its license in a conspicuous
location in its principal place of business within the City of Washington.
No building repair business licensed or required to be licensed
under this article shall perform or cause to be performed any of the
following:
A.
Perform any work unless it conforms to the provisions of the City
of Washington Code and any and all regulations pursuant thereto.
B.
Factor or sell any installment contract entered into under this article
unless written permission is granted by the person who entered into
the contract with the license and/or building repair business.
C.
Fail to complete work as outlined in the written contract.
D.
Fail to disclose the full cost of the work entered into under a written
contract.
E.
Fail to comply with the requirements of any state law or regulation
dealing with contracts and installment sales.
No building permit shall be issued to any building repair business
that performs work or causes work to be performed under this article
unless said business is licensed pursuant to the provisions set forth
in this article.
[Amended 12-7-2006 by Ord. No. 1766]
A.
Any individual, person, firm, corporation or other entity who shall
violate any provision of this article shall, upon being held liable
in any civil proceeding or upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to
pay a penalty, fine or charge of no less than $100 nor more than the
maximum amount permitted by law, but not to exceed $1,000, and in
default of payment or any failure to pay any fine or penalty, upon
a summary or other criminal conviction, shall be sentenced to imprisonment
for a period not to exceed 30 days, or both.
B.
Each day that a violation of this article shall continue shall constitute
a separate offense, subject to the fines, costs, penalties and charges
set forth above for each offense.
C.
Nothing herein shall limit, prevent or preclude the City of Washington
from taking any and all legal action or exercising any other remedy
available to the City by law, including but not limited to the initiation
of civil or criminal proceedings or injunctive relief, in order to
enforce or ensure compliance with this article. As an additional remedy,
the City of Washington may abate any nuisance, dangerous or hazardous
condition by any means permitted by law, which shall include but not
be limited to an action in the Court of Common Pleas of Washington
County, Pennsylvania, for injunctive relief; the use of any City of
Washington personnel, equipment and materials or that of an authorized
agent or contractor hired by the City to remove or abate any nuisance,
dangerous or hazardous condition and with all costs thereof or related
thereto to be charged against the property owner(s) and/or person
or entity who has violated the article or portion thereof; said costs
shall include all actual costs and expenses, including all costs of
collection and reasonable administrative costs of the City, incurred
in enforcing the provisions of the article.
Notwithstanding any other provision(s) of this code, in the
event that a Building Code violation is created by any substandard,
unworkmanlike or otherwise improper improvement on a premises by a
building improvement business, the responsibility for the correction
of the violation and the liability for paying any fine assessed pursuant
to this article shall be imposed hereby upon the building improvement
business so long as the property owner has not contributed in any
significant way in the creation of the Building Code violation. The
Department may revoke the license issued under this article if the
licensee has failed to correct any such violation.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to limit the rights
of any consumer who suffers any loss as a result of any action by
a building repair business to recover from such business any damage
sustained by the consumer.
