Albany Mayor Wants Landlords Held Accountable For Property Cleanup

No matter what city you travel to in the country you're going to encounter some properties that have gotten out of control. That is the case for many places around the City of Albany and the Mayor is now working to change that. If people aren't keeping their properties clean they could face a fine of up to $1,000.

Mayor Applyrs is teaming up with the city's department of general service to do a "street sweep." That means they're cleaning up your mess.

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Obviously the City of Albany has more important things to do than clean up private property. At the same time having a bunch of trash laying around isn't a good look. That's why they're now going to hold the landlord's accountable for making sure that the property remains well maintained, or face a fine.

Here’s how this works. When we see conditions like this, the property gets posted and the landlord is put on notice to clean it up. If that doesn’t happen, the city steps in, does the work, and issues fines ranging from $100 to $1,000.

As a City of Albany resident I think this is great work from the Mayor's office. For far too long absentee landlords have allowed, at times, whole neighborhoods to fall into ruin due to their negligence. Owning a property comes with a certain responsibility to the other people around you. While no one likes to babysit, sometimes these landlords need to be sure that their tenants aren't trashing the place. This new system will hopefully lead to more accountability around the city as a whole.

She even has a message to the college students who live in many of these neighborhoods:

To our college students, we’re glad you’re here. This is your home while you’re in Albany. But being part of this community means taking care of it.

It's like any other situation. Your mother isn't here to cleanup after you. If you don't want your landlord to get a fine, make sure you're keeping your place nice and clean.