Vote set on rental unit inspections

A proposal to require annual inspections of the township's 10,000 rental units has stirred up a mix of praise, opposition and confusion as officials prepare for a vote on the issue Thursday.
The ordinance is designed to curb lease flip-flopping and improve living conditions, according to township officials. The inspections department, when investigating several hundred overcrowded units this past year, found that an overwhelming majority had no certificates of occupancy, according to inspections department director Ed Mack. That along with chronically poor upkeep has put rentals at the root of "almost every problem in town," from crime to property value depreciation to hurting Lakewood's overall reputation, Mack said."
It's very rare to find an owner-occupied house in such bad shape," he said.
But opponents see the ordinance as unfairly broad. Some of the heaviest objections came from Orthodox Jewish leaders, who lobbied the Township Committee to table the decision until more public input is presented. Many of the town's landlords are Orthodox.
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