Farmers Branch says it asked apartments about tenants' legal residency

Official calls form about legal residency an error; attorney wants sanctions


11:30 PM CDT on Monday, March 24, 2008
By STEPHANIE SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News


Farmers Branch acknowledged Monday that the city asked 11 apartment complexes to check whether prospective tenants were in the country legally, even though a federal judge has blocked enforcement of the city's ban on rentals to illegal immigrants.

City Manager Gary Greer called the situation, involving an annual application for a rental license, inadvertent and an "unfortunate error."

Management of seven of the 11 complexes signed the form, though two crossed out the improper language, Mr. Greer said.

It wasn't known whether anyone had been turned away from an apartment, though Mr. Greer said: "To my knowledge, there is not anyone that is carrying this out. We will be checking into that, to be sure they understand that they don't have to. ...

"I'm doing everything I can do right now to make sure it never happens again."

The city's voters overwhelmingly approved a measure last May to require apartments to obtain proof of legal status before renting to anyone.

But lawsuits challenged the constitutionality of the measure, and U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement until the legal issues can be resolved. The case hasn't yet reached trial.

Apartment complexes' licenses to rent units expire at the end of each calendar year, and they must submit a new application. The city sent a proper license application to every complex in November. It asked applicants to acknowledge that they had received a copy of the apartment ordinances and would abide by them.

But early this month, when resending applications to complexes that still hadn't renewed their licenses, the city inadvertently used the wrong form, Mr. Greer said. That version specifically mentioned a provision that requires landlords to verify that prospective renters are in the country legally.

Attorney Bill Brewer, who represents three apartment complexes that sued Farmers Branch last year over the ordinance, said the city's use of the flawed form amounted to contempt of court. He has asked a federal court to sanction the city.

Mr. Brewer said he contacted the city's law firm, Strasburger & Price, before filing the contempt motion, expressing concern and asking that the application be corrected.

"All we wanted was for them to take some corrective action," he said. "Fairly typical of our dealings with them, they did not agree and forced us to present the application that we have."

Mr. Brewer said he hoped the city's attorneys would call him to work things out.

Michael Jung, an attorney with Strasburger & Price, acknowledged the problem with the application.

"Certainly it was not the intent of the city to enforce the ordinance in the face of Judge Lindsay's injunction. We're trying to figure out how it happened that that document got out there. Once we find that out, we'll report to the court."

Mr. Jung said the clause asking the applicant to acknowledge the city's apartment ordinances and abide by them is fine. But the clause about prospective tenants' legal status "should not have been there."

Mr. Greer said the application form had been drafted in fall 2006, after the council first approved an ordinance banning apartment rentals to illegal immigrants. At the time, there were no lawsuits and no injunctions in place.

www.dallasnews.com