The Madison Landlord and Tenant Issues Subcommittee voted unanimously yesterday in favor of an ordinance that requires exterior doors on any building in the city of Madison that lead to a common area -basements, laundry or storage rooms-to have a lock on it.
The ordinance also requires notification to the specific apartment a visitor wishes to enter. This could be anything from a doorbell to an intercom.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, the main sponsor of the lock ordinance, said the genesis of this ordinance was a sexual assault case last summer where the landlord refused to put locks on the front doors of the building even after the tenant asked for them.
The ordinance will now move onto the Housing Committee for a vote Dec. 1 and then to the City Council Dec.14.
