Landlords in Lansford who don’t pay their borough bills will lose their rental licenses on April 1, according to borough officials.

The borough notified 71 landlords last week that they will suspend their borough rental license if they don’t become up-to-date on their bills for garbage, sewer transmission fees and rental license fees.

“In order to continue with their rental licenses, their bills have to be current,” said borough council President Bruce Markovich.

The unpaid bills are related to 117 different rental units, and total more than $82,000. Markovich said the units are all occupied.

Landlords are required to update their rental licenses each year by April 1 and pay a $50 fee.

Markovich said records show the borough has more than 500 rental units, owned by about 220 landlords.

He said the landlords who were notified have previously been notified about the unpaid bills, and continued to fail to pay them. He said that some bills date back to 2013.

The total of unpaid bills has been steadily rising, and Markovich said it will exceed $100,000 next year if nothing is done.

“It’s not fair to the other landlords who pay their bills all the time, and the other residents who pay their garbage and sewer transmission fee,” he said.

Markovich said if the landlords fail to get in compliance by April 1, the borough will cite them under its rental license ordinance for failing to obtain a rental license.

If the citation is upheld by the district magistrate, the landlord could face a $600 fine.

“We don’t want to evict anybody. It isn’t fair to the tenant who pays their rent that their landlord isn’t paying the bills,” Markovich said.