Rental housing inspections sees changes, some landlords are not impressed

As officials meet with commercial property owners to discuss possible changes to the city’s inspection programs for businesses, council members last month officially put to rest the issues brought up by local landlords regarding the rental housing inspection program by approving an amended administrative policy.

However, Newton landlord Fred Rhodes is not pleased with the changes and suggested a number of other rental property owners side with him in this regard. Rhodes had been a prominent voice in landlords’ attempts to convince the city to suspend its rental inspections processes until real adjustments could be made.

In a unanimous vote, council agreed to make changes to the Residential Rental Inspection Program Administrative Policy recommended by the building trades board. Rhodes does not believe the council, nor the members who made up the ad hoc committee, listened to landlords about their issues on policy.

Apart from housekeeping edits, the updated policy prevents outdoor nuisance issues from triggering a residential inspection. Instead, these issues will be forwarded to and handled by the community service officers at the police station. Re-inspections by electronic means is also allowed, but only in certain situations.

For instance, there can be no major violations in the initial inspection, and the property must have three or fewer minor violations meeting the following criteria:

• Matters of element condition, such as peeling paint, missing house numbers, broken cover plates, etc.

• Measure repairs where the element and measurement tool can be viewed in the image, such as distance between guards, stair riders, etc.

• Repairs that required a building or building trades permit and have been inspected by the city’s building official.

Discussions from landlords leading up to the suspension frequently targeted the inspection contractor, Iowa Inspections. Several rental property owners distrusted the inspector and alleged the inspections set up landlords for failure. Rhodes still believes the inspector is dishonest and will cause issues with property owners.

“Since I’m the point in town, everybody comes to me. They say, ‘Fred, I’m upset.’ I realize some of the things they complain about, sometimes I just tell them they need to do that because it’s safety,” Rhodes said. “…They just didn’t listen to us. That ad hoc committee, they didn’t follow through. I don’t think they cared.”

Council member Randy Ervin, who served on the ad hoc committee, disagrees and told Newton Daily News that any town in Iowa with over 15,000 people does not have a choice and needs to have an inspection program that follows state code. Which is why the building trades board got involved.

As a result of the ad hoc committee meetings, Ervin said rental property owners can now have more in-depth records of the inspection using an already existing software utilized by the city. These inspections provide pictures and cite specific codes when needed. It also provides tools for follow-ups.

“We are implementing this new software so we can do a better job of addressing the situation,” Ervin said. “The other thing we introduced was we need to keep nuisance complaints and inspections as two different things. I think that was misconstrued to the inspector … I think we did address a lot.”

Ervin acknowledged that many of the landlords do not like the contracted inspections company. The city, he said, is looking at some alternatives and have even considered bringing inspections back under the city’s control. At this point, it may be too expensive to add a full-time inspector to the City of Newton staff.

OLDER BUILDING CODES MAY ALLOW SOME LENIENCY

If a rental property owner wants to appeal an inspection, Newton Community Development Director Erin Chambers reminded council members at their March 20 meeting there is an appeals process through the building trades board, which was very clear in noting that landlords do not need to be present for that meeting.

“If it is a challenge to attend, we will openly hear your complaint,” Chambers said. “In the last page of the administrative policy there is the rental complaint form. They would fill that out. That would be submitted to the building trades board for their review.”

Newton City Administrator Matt Muckler said at the same meeting that landlords have been given more information on what to look for and need to follow code. Ultimately, the city’s goal is compliance, he said, and staff want rental property owners to pass on their first inspection.

Council member Vicki Wade raised concerns about property owners that have repurposed an older home but must still meet code requirements, even when they are structurally challenging. Wade said some parts of a home might have been fine back in the day but do not meet current code.

In which case the rental property owners would have to invest considerable renovations to meet some code requirements in older housing stock.

Ervin said that’s when the city’s hands are tied. Staff cannot override state code. The council member went on to explain why a property owner does not have to meet certain codes but a rental property owner does when a tenant is living in the residence.

“No one’s going to come in to councilperson Ervin’s house and say that railing is eight inches and it can only be six inches, because I’m not profiting or using it for any other reason,” Ervin said. “The second that I remove myself, put my property out for rent, it becomes a business transaction.”

Chambers clarified Ervin’s statement by saying it is one thing to have a risk posed to yourself in your own personal home, but it’s an entirely different thing to have risk posed to an unwitting renter or a child in a rental home. That said, there may be existing buildings code that could allow for some leniency.

“But we do need to remember that existing buildings code doesn’t always make it possible to achieve what a property owner may want to achieve,” Chambers said. “You have to look at those situations individually.”