(A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, the Housing Inspector may make periodic inspections only when there is reasonable cause to believe that unsafe, unsanitary, or otherwise hazardous or unlawful conditions may exist in a residential building or structure. However, when the Housing Inspector determines that a safety hazard exists in one of the dwelling units within a multi-family building, which in the opinion of the Housing Inspector poses an immediate threat to the occupant, the Housing Inspector may inspect, in the absence of a specific complaint and actual knowledge of the unsafe condition, additional dwelling units in the multi-family building to determine if that same safety hazard exists. In conducting inspections authorized under this section, the Housing Inspector shall not discriminate between single-family and multi-family buildings or between owner-occupied and tenant-occupied buildings. In exercising this power, the Housing Inspector shall have a right to enter on any premises within its jurisdiction at all reasonable hours for the purposes of inspection or other enforcement action, upon presentation of proper credentials. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit periodic inspections in accordance with state fire prevention code or as otherwise required by state law.
(B) By means of a separate ordinance adopted pursuant to the authority granted at G.S. § 160D-1207, the Town Council may require periodic inspections as part of a targeted effort to respond to blighted or potentially blighted conditions within a geographic area that has been designated by the Town Council.
(Ord. passed 7-21-2016; Ord. PL05268-110121, passed 12-8-2021)