Described here are my dealings with the (incorporated) Borough over an ‘Occupancy Permit’ issue when I purchased my home in January 2018. It may seem like a small issue to many. One may say, ” just pay the fees to keep them off your back so they will leave you alone. Why go through the trouble and inconvenience.” I couldn’t do that because it’s insidious local ‘government’ control and a surreptitious tyranny of man’s basic property rights. It is not about the cost, it’s about the principle. It is about what is right.
A little basic background to my understanding. In the County/Borough that I live, here in Pennsylvania, when someone buys or rents a home, the Borough requires that an ‘Occupancy Permit’ be filled out and a fee paid. Not only that, a ‘Mandatory Inspection’ is also required and another fee has to be paid. Whatever the Inspector deems to be repaired, has to be completed before ‘occupying’ the property. When the ordered repairs are completed, the Inspector has to come back for another inspection (for which he has to be paid again). All the while this is going on no one can live on the property until it passes inspection and a permit is issued. Which is seriously convoluted.
Some rhetorical thoughts on this. So according to the Borough Ordinance, are said ‘occupant(s)’ required to move out until the property is deemed ‘safe’ prior to Borough approval? So the ‘occupant(s)’ have to pay for permit fees, inspections, repairs and be subject to all of this without even occupying the property. What do the ‘occupant(s)’ do in the meantime? Move out and go live in a hotel (more expense)? And if said ‘occupant(s)’ don’t acquiesce they will be fined and/or be thrown in jail for 30 days. REALLY? All the time they say that the property owner is just that a property owner.
I didn’t agree with them and I challenged them to prove their authority. They didn’t like my inquiry into their nonsense. So they tried to roll over me by litigating against me.
I am of the belief that if a man owns property (house, car, corporate-less business, etc.) no other man and certainly no ‘govt’ inc. employee’ has the right or authority to tell that man what he can or can not do with his property. The only time a man may have authority over another man is by way of contract. And depending on the stipulations of said contract is the limited extent of that authority.
This is a chronological order of my dealings with them:
(1 Borough Notice) They mail the permit with a cover letter to me, I ignore them
(2 Borough-Final Notice) They mail it again with threats
(Occupancy Permit Response) My reply to them. They didn’t like it.
(Complaint-pg 1 and Complaint-pg 2, Complaint Summons) They apparently didn’t accept my reply because the Borough Chief of Police then filed a Private Criminal Complaint against me with the local Magistrate.
I enclosed an emendation of the Complaint Summons (which is Complaint Summons alt) just as an idea of how I was going to address the Court before I decided to send Notices.
I then send Notices to the Court by certified mail/return receipt:
(Penalty) I also enclosed the penalty section of the Borough Ordinance to illustrate the serious threat these Borough employees use for coercion.
7. Penalty
Results? The Court has not responded. The Borough’s coercion and duress began in March of 2018. So far I am being let alone. That could change. I‘ ll have to wait and see.
Redress ~ 4 ~ Dummies 