(a) No person shall operate a rooming house unless he holds a valid rooming house permit issued by the Director of Administration or his designee in the name of the operator for the specific rooming house. This permit shall be displayed in a conspicuous place within the rooming house at all times. Every rooming house permit shall expire at the end of the one year following its date of issuance.
(b) No rooming house permit may be issued without the written endorsement of the Building Inspector and the Fire Chief with respect to the conformance of the subject property to ordinances, rules and regulations which these officers are required to enforce.
(c) A permit fee of one dollar ($1.00) shall be paid for each rooming unit in a rooming house. The minimum fee shall be five dollars ($5.00) for any rooming house.
(d) A rooming house permit is not transferable. When a person who holds a rooming house permit transfers his interest in or control of a rooming house, he shall notify the Director of Administration or his designee in writing within twenty-four hours. Such notice shall include the name and address of the person succeeding to the ownership or control of the rooming house.
(e) When the Director of Administration or his designee denies an application for a rooming house permit, he shall notify the applicant in writing. A notice of denial shall include the date of denial, the time within which a request for a hearing may be made, and a brief statement of the facts upon which the denial was based.
(f) Any person whose application for a permit to operate a rooming house has been denied may request and shall be granted a hearing before the Director of Administration or his designee under the procedure provided by Section 1311.09.
(g) When the Director of Administration or his designee finds that the operator of a rooming house has violated this chapter, he shall serve a written notice of violation upon the operator under the procedure provided by Section 1311.09. If the violation is not remedied within a reasonable period of time, specified in the notice, then the Director of Administration or his designee shall suspend the permit of the operator. Upon receipt of notice of suspension, the operator shall immediately cease operation of such rooming house, and no person shall occupy for sleeping or living purposes any rooming unit therein.
(h) Any person whose permit to operate a rooming house has been suspended, or who has received a written notice that his permit is to be suspended unless an existing violation is corrected, the request shall be granted a hearing before the Director of Administration or his designee under the procedure provided by Section 1311.09. Provided that if no petition for such hearing is filed within ten days after the date such permit was suspended, such permit shall be automatically revoked.
(i) At least one flush water closet, lavatory basin, and bathtub or shower, properly connected to a water and sewer system approved by the Director of Administration or his designee in good working order, shall be provided for each six persons or fraction thereof residing within a rooming house. Where rooms are let only to males, flush urinals may be substituted for not more than one-half the required water closets. All facilities shall be so located within the dwelling as to be reasonably accessible from a common hall or passageway to all persons sharing such facilities. Every lavatory and bathtub or shower shall be supplied with hot water at all times.
(j) Every room occupied for sleeping purposes by one person shall contain at least seventy square feet of floor space, and every occupied room for sleeping purposes by more than one person shall contain at least fifty square feet for each occupant.
(k) Every rooming unit shall have safe, unobstructed means of egress leading to safe and open spaces at ground level, as required by the laws of the State of Ohio and the Building Code.
(l) The operator of every rooming house shall be responsible for the sanitary maintenance of all walls, floors and ceilings; for maintenance of a sanitary condition in every other part of the rooming house and for the sanitary maintenance of the premises of the rooming house.
(m) Every provision of this chapter which applies to rooming houses also applies to hotels, motels, tourist homes and rest homes except to the extent that any such provision may be found in conflict with the laws of this State or with the lawful regulations of any state board or agency, then the higher standard shall apply.
(Ord. 80-7447. Passed 6-18-80.)