[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:
BUILDING REPAIR
Any construction, alteration, repair, renovation, reconstruction and/or redecoration of any structure which requires a building permit under the BOCA Code.
BUILDING REPAIR BUSINESS
Any person, partnership, firm, corporation or entity engaged in the business of building repairs.
DEPARTMENT
The City of Washington Zoning and Building Department.
SOLICITATION
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.
STRUCTURE
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.