As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
AGENT
A person designated by the owner of a rental property to
act on behalf of the owner.
APPLICANT
This term shall include both applicants for licenses under
this article together with all persons who have been granted licenses
by the Village.
DWELLING UNIT
Any building which contains living facilities, including
provisions for sleeping and water and sewer (whether shared or not),
and may or may not include eating and cooking, that is located within
the Village.
PROPERTY OWNER
A person, persons, firm, partnership, corporation, limited
liability company, or any other entity holding a property interest
in the subject real property. "Property owner" also includes a government,
governmental unit, or agency thereof. If more than one person or entity
owns the subject real property, "property owner" refers to each person
or entity holding any portion of the ownership interest in the property,
and the property owners' obligations in this chapter are joint
and several as to each property.
RENTAL BUILDING
A building, or portion thereof, which is designed, used,
or intended to contain rental dwelling unit(s).
RENTAL DWELLING UNIT
A.
Any dwelling unit which is offered for rent, lease or hire or
which is rented, leased or hired. A dwelling unit shall be deemed
rented upon a property owner advertising the availability of the dwelling
unit for rent, lease, or hire, for example, but not limited to, hotels/motels,
trailer parks, vacation rentals, rooming houses, rented rooms in owner-occupied
homes, senior or low-income housing, emergency shelter and transitional
housing, etc.
B.
Any dwelling unit which is made available for the purposes of
temporary housing of tenants, lodgers, boarders, etc., whether payment
is received or not (including, but not limited to, temporary housing
of dislodged and homeless people). "Temporary" may include housing
for up to a one-year stay. (Note: this does not include an owner-occupied
dwelling unit in which the owner allows invited guests to stay on
a temporary basis without payment).
RENTAL PROPERTY
A tax parcel on which a rental building(s) or rental dwelling
unit(s) is (are) located.
No licensee shall evict, threaten to evict, or take any other
punitive action against any tenant who, by reason of good faith, calls
Village officials related to public safety or property maintenance
concerns. This section shall not prohibit the eviction of tenants
from a rental dwelling for unlawful conduct of a tenant or invitee,
or for a failure to pay rent as required by a lease.
When the conduct of any license holder or its agent, representative, employee or lessee or the condition of its dwelling is detrimental to the public health, safety and general welfare as to constitute a public nuisance under Chapter
227 of the Village Code, the Police Department or other persons designated by the Village Board shall have the authority to take any enforcement actions provided by that chapter along with summarily condemning or posting for no occupancy such area of the rental dwelling.
In any case where a provision of this article is found to be
in conflict with a provision of any zoning, building, fire, safety
or health ordinance or code of this Village, the provision which establishes
the higher standard for the promotion and protection of the health
and safety of the people shall prevail. In any case where a provision
of this article is found to be in conflict with a provision of any
other ordinance or code of this Village which establishes a lower
standard for the promotion and protection of the health and safety
of the people, the provisions of this article shall prevail, and such
other ordinances or codes are hereby declared to be ineffective to
the extent that they may be found in conflict with this article.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this
article is for any reason held to be invalid, such decision shall
not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this article.
Any violation of this chapter shall be punishable according to the provisions of Chapter
1, §
1-4, of the Village of Balsam Lake Code.
Village-owned property is not subject to this article except
that if a Village owned property is the subject of two or more nuisance
activity calls within a calendar year, the Village Board shall review
the calls and prepare a written plan for addressing the nuisance activity
to prevent further occurrences.