how many have rental inspection ordinances

[MikeC]

we have a rental program & a multi family program . the rental program costs $ 300.00 per yr & is required to be inspected every yr . its supposed to be for over crowding , house in disrepair , tall grass & weeds , however when these guys get in the house they spend an hour to an hour & a half looking at the stupidest stuf , lite bulb out , hole in a screen , locks not locking the right way . they even make people open walls to add an outlet or a light switch even tho the house was approved back in the 60s & 70s . they get complaints every day .

All of those things are safety related under IPMC. We recently lost a house to fire because someone ran an extension cord for a heater and never uncoiled, letting it get pushed in between the couch cushions. While you cannot fix stupid, the requirement for a minimum of 2 electric receptacles per room does cut down on this type of stuff. There is also a section about excessive use of extension cords. In my area, no houses were approved back in the 60's and 70's ..... the industry was not regulated until the mid 90's.

 

[ICE]

we have a rental program & a multi family program . the rental program costs $ 300.00 per yr & is required to be inspected every yr . its supposed to be for over crowding , house in disrepair , tall grass & weeds , however when these guys get in the house they spend an hour to an hour & a half looking at the stupidest stuff , light bulb out , hole in a screen , locks not locking the right way . they even make people open walls to add an outlet or a light switch even tho the house was approved back in the 60s & 70s . they get complaints every day .

The first order of business for any bureaucracy is to further itself. They must give the populace the impression that they are getting their money's worth.

 

[codeworks]

cbo is going to try to get the ipmc passed and into our new code cycle. i hope it flies, then we'll have something to work with

 

[mtlogcabin]

Once a jurisdiction adopts a code then they are obligated to enforce that code (unless you are the feds who seem to pick and choose what they want to enforce)

Property maintnance codes are a drain on the general funds budget and will rarely cover the cost through fines or liens. Hence they are not popular in a majority of cities or towns. Those that do have them usually work of of complaints only and are not proactive in the enforcement of the code.

Make sure you understand which direction the elected officials want you to go, complaint driven or pro-active enforcement

 

[David Henderson]

Fire Dept. does annual inspections of apt. buildings, thats it.What your proposing sounds like profiling,picking out rentals only, what about homes that are occupied by the owner and not maintained.

 

[brudgers]

Fire Dept. does annual inspections of apt. buildings, thats it.What your proposing sounds like profiling,picking out rentals only, what about homes that are occupied by the owner and not maintained.

I've seen it handled by business license. That's what rental is anyway.

 

[Alias]

Once a jurisdiction adopts a code then they are obligated to enforce that code (unless you are the feds who seem to pick and choose what they want to enforce) Property maintnance codes are a drain on the general funds budget and will rarely cover the cost through fines or liens. Hence they are not popular in a majority of cities or towns. Those that do have them usually work of of complaints only and are not proactive in the enforcement of the code.

Make sure you understand which direction the elected officials want you to go, complaint driven or pro-active enforcement

For rentals, it is definitely complaint driven here, no funds to enforce the way it should be enforced. Tenant is required to file a written complaint in my office. I get a few a year mainly due to old housing stock (20's-40's) and absentee landlords.

Sue

 

[BSSTG]

Greetings

I 've got agree with Brudgers on this. I would be literally drummed out of town by pushing a rental ordinance. The reality is that it would be political hot tater. That said, we sure need just that type of ordinance here. It will take someone getting killed in a fire to provoke it too. I'm not even sure that would do it.

Years ago I was a maintenance electrician in an ice cream plant. My partner and I refused to go into the interior of the blast freezer areas and for years we told the higher ups it was unsafe. Caused a lot of trouble. Sure nuff, a fellow maint worker was on the inside of this equipment when human error cause him to be nearly cut in half by some moving hydraulic racks. So he's dead now. He left a wife and 2 kids. Osha fines, lawsuits, depositions, maint. boss attempted suicide, widow's a mutil millionaire, plant shutdown until it's made safe, etc. So now you don't see Borden Ice Cream around anymore as they went bankrupt a short time later. That incidnet was a contributing cause for sure.

Yep, sometimes someone has to get killed to promote policy changes. It's a shame.

BS