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Philadelphians win access to absentee landlord records
By Ed Goppelt
Monday, 02/23/04
(1077548676516)
In the past, Philadelphians attempting to contact the owners of
abandoned or nuisance properties were obliged to make the time
consuming and expensive trip to City Hall. No longer: after a year
long legal battle with the City, Hallwatch posted the addresses of
157,509 absentee landlords yesterday evening on its web site.
The City's Revenue Department provided Hallwatch with the addresses after being ordered to do so by Commonwealth Court. Hallwatch believes the addresses to be of high quality as the Revenue Department has a vested interest in keeping accurate records of taxpayers' whereabouts.
Relying on statute and the City's own statements regarding the confidentiality of the mailing address, Hallwatch's lawyer Michael Churchill, of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP), was able to convince the three judge panel in Commonwealth Court that the addresses were a public record that must be disclosed.
The City had argued that releasing the addresses would compromise the privacy of absentee landlords. While it fought to shield absentee landlords from public view, the City had no such qualms when it came to those tax delinquents unfortunate enough to live on their own property: these were provided to Hallwatch without complaint.
In a 13 page opinion Commonwealth Court rejected the City's privacy argument, noting that:
...the disclosure of the off-site mailing addresses benefits the public by allowing communications to be made regarding a property from which the owner is absent. These communications could include the voicing of concerns regarding the condition of the property or the actions of the tenants of the property or surrounding neighborhood that would otherwise be unknown to an absentee landlord, offers to purchase or lease or service of process where appropriate.
The City spared no expense when it came to defending the rights of absentee landlords: a source in the legal community puts the value of the legal work performed by the City Law Department at $10,000. All told City attorneys filed 60 pages of legal documents in their attempt to withhold absentee landlords addresses from the public.
Hallwatch expects to have new delinquency data, including those newly delinquent on their 2003 taxes, by the end of next week.
Public records should be public. Tell City officials you support the public's right to know and object to taxpayer money being used to fight public records requests.