It shall be unlawful for any person, as either owner or manager of a regulated rental unit for which a license is required, to operate without a valid, current license issued by the Borough authorizing such operation. It shall also be unlawful for any person, either owner or manager, to allow the number of occupants of a regulated rental unit to exceed the maximum limit as set forth on the license, or to violate any other provision of this chapter. It shall be unlawful for any occupant to violate this chapter.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Any person who violates or permits a violation of this chapter shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, be guilty of a summary offense and shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000, plus court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the Borough in the enforcement proceedings. Upon judgment against any person by summary conviction, or by proceedings by summons on default of the payment of the fine or penalty imposed and the costs, the defendant may be sentenced and committed to the county correctional facility for a period not exceeding 30 days. Each day that such violation exists shall constitute a separate offense, and each section of this chapter that is violated shall also constitute a separate offense. In addition to or in lieu of enforcement under this section, the Borough may enforce this chapter in equity in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County.
The penalty provisions of this article and the license nonrenewal, suspension and revocation procedures provided in this chapter shall be independent, nonmutually exclusive separate remedies, all of which shall be available to the Borough as may be deemed appropriate for carrying out the purposes of this chapter. The remedies and procedures provided in this chapter for violations hereof are not intended to supplant or replace, to any degree, the remedies and procedures available to the Borough in the case of a violation of any other code or ordinance of the Borough, whether or not such other code or ordinance is referenced in this chapter and whether or not an ongoing violation of such other code or ordinance is cited as the underlying ground for a finding of a violation of this chapter.
As provided by Act 200 of 2014,[1] this chapter shall not be used to penalize a resident, tenant or landlord for a contact made for police or emergency assistance by or on behalf of a victim of abuse as defined in 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 6102, a victim of a crime pursuant to 18 Pa.C.S.A. (related to crimes and offenses) or an individual in an emergency pursuant to 35 Pa.C.S.A. § 8103, if the contact was made based upon the reasonable belief of the person making the contact that intervention or emergency assistance was necessary to prevent the perpetration or escalation of the abuse, crime or emergency or if the intervention or emergency assistance was actually needed in response to the abuse, crime or emergency. The term "penalize" includes the actual or threatened revocation, suspension or nonrenewal of a rental license, the actual or threatened assessment of fines or the actual or threatened eviction, or causing the actual or threatened eviction from leased premises.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 304.