Santora amendment passes House

Nearly 4,300 Realtors® sent a clear message to every member of the House to vote ‘yes’ to an amendment to House Bill 1437 (R-Goodman). The amendment passed the House (194-0) yesterday and will have third consideration after the primary election, after which it will move to the Senate for approval. The amendment more clearly defines “unfit for habitation” to provide better guidance to local code enforcement officials.

Many Realtors® and their clients have had issues with municipalities labeling houses “unfit for habitation” and refusing to issue temporary use and occupancy certificates to home buyers until cracked sidewalks are repaired and old house numbers are replaced. These minor issues no doubt exist elsewhere in the neighborhoods, but some municipalities are claiming they make the home “unfit for human habitation.”

Rep. Jamie Santora (R-Delaware), who’s also a Realtor®, initially introduced this as legislation but asked to add his proposed language as an amendment to House Bill 1437.

“The labeling of homes as ‘unfit for habitation’ has negatively impacted consumers across the commonwealth,” said Todd Polinchock, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors® PAR. “Withholding use and occupancy certificates, which are needed in some municipalities to allow settlement to move forward, stifles the negotiation process between buyers and sellers. Rep. Santora understands how troublesome this issue has become and wants to help home buyers and sellers get to the closing table.”

The Santora amendment to House Bill 1437 would require that certificates be issued by municipalities who choose to conduct resale code inspections, regardless of the nature of code violation found. The amendment creates a new category of “Temporary Access” certificate that would allow a sale to move forward even if a home is determined to be unfit for habitation, but require that substantial code violations be corrected prior to the new owner inhabiting the property. It would also require that all other minor code violations be corrected within a certain time frame, with financial and other penalties left in place for failure to comply.