The approval to repeal the city’s expiration of the Chronic Nuisance Premises Ordinance by the Housing Committee Wednesday will allow police to continue to become more involved with issues regarding repeated offenses of lack of maintenance and behavioral problems from landlords and tenants.

When the ordinance was initially approved, it contained a “sunset clause” which puts an automatic expiration on the ordinance. The committee repealed the sunset clause, making the ordinance permanent.

The ordinance has been on the books for two years and has seen eight full-fledged chronic nuisances during that time.

The ordinance seeks to create an organized and regimented way to deal with landlord-tenant disturbances. For example, multiple phone calls to police, the necessity for police intervention and visitation as well as frequent citations can all contribute to a property’s status as a chronic nuisance. Nancy Jensen, executive director of the Apartment Association of South Central Wisconsin, considered its effect as a two-pronged approach.

“There are code violations, building code violations, construction and maintenance,” Jensen said. “The other half is focused on nuisance problems — they are people-oriented, they are behavior problems.”

Jensen detailed the procedures in place between landlords and tenants to deal with issues of maintenance and code violations, but said the behavioral side is not so easy to pin down.

“The behavior side of it is more complex,” Jensen said. “And that’s because it deals with landlord and tenant behavior. These issues stem from calls to the police, citations, arrests, convictions, actions that are deemed chronic nuisances because repeatedly police are required to address it.”

These issues can range anywhere from arson to indecent exposure, prostitution and harboring dangerous animals. The focus of the meeting, however, was not the grievous violations of the ordinance, of which only eight were documented, but the sunset clause that would have rendered the ordinance ineffective Nov. 1, 2009, according to a statement.

“I’ve been very encouraged by how the ordinance has worked,” said Housing Committee member David Sparer. “I’d hate to see the sunset clause kill it.”

The concern for the fate of the ordinance was shared by landlords who came to voice their opinion on what they believed to be a necessary way to address landlord-tenant issues in the wider community.

By allowing the ordinance to fall victim to the sunset clause, the safety of the community is put at risk, said Tom McKenna, president of the Orchard Ridge Community Club.

“It’s not difficult to be a good resident, but extremely difficult to remove a problem tenant,” McKenna said.

Many property management companies in the area have procedures in place to quickly and efficiently deal with violations, Jensen said. Regardless, there are still cases that must be handled in another manner.

“Madison probably has one of the best crafted chronic nuisance ordinances in the state,” Jensen said.