On and after the effective date of this article, each owner
of real estate in Vandergrift Borough, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania,
who proposes to lease said real estate, shall obtain a certificate
of occupancy from the Code Enforcement Officer of Vandergrift Borough.
Each owner must exhibit this certificate of occupancy to each prospective
tenant before he can enter into a lease, either oral or written, for
said real estate.
The Code Enforcement Officer of Vandergrift Borough shall conduct
a visual inspection of each property, in a manner determined by Borough
Council, before he issues a certificate of occupancy, and it shall
be his responsibility to see that all Borough codes and ordinances
have been complied with before he issues said certificate of occupancy.
In the event the premises does not comply with the Borough codes and
ordinances, he must notify the owner, in writing, of the existing
violations, and these violations must be alleviated before the certificate
of occupancy can be issued.
The owner of said real estate shall pay to the Code Enforcement
Officer, for the use of Vandergrift Borough, the sum of $10 for each
certificate of occupancy which is applied for. It is required that
a separate certificate of occupancy shall be required for each rental
unit, no matter how large or small.
All properties leased before the date of this article shall
not be required to comply with the provisions hereof as long as said
lease or any renewal thereof remains in effect. This article shall
only apply to said property at such time as it is leased to another
tenant. Before the property may be leased to a new tenant, the property
owner must obtain a certificate of occupancy.
Any person who fails to comply with any provisions of this article
shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than
$100 or more than $600 plus costs of prosecution, and in default of
payment of fine and costs, to undergo imprisonment for not more than
30 days.