(A) To provide certain minimum standards, provisions and requirements for safe and stable design, construction, uses of materials and maintenance of rental residential dwellings, the regulations promulgated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and known as “Section 8 Existing Housing Program”, published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and printed in book or pamphlet form, is hereby incorporated by reference in addition to all amended editions as though printed in full herein insofar as said regulations do not conflict with the statutes of the state. The City Council shall have the authority to establish regulations differing from the Section 8 Existing Housing Program, by resolution, and any such resolution is hereby incorporated by reference, and, together with the regulations known as Section 8 Existing Housing Program, shall constitute the Rental Housing Standards Code for the municipality. Three copies of the Rental Housing Standards Code are on file at the office of the Municipal Clerk and are available for public inspection at any reasonable time. The provisions of the Rental Housing Standards Code shall be controlling throughout the municipality.
(B) To ensure compliance with the Rental Housing Standards Code, every residential dwelling unit within the municipality which is not occupied by a person who is a record title owner of said unit, shall be inspected by the municipality and brought into compliance with this Code by the owner or owners of said dwelling at the time of a change of occupancy of said unit.
(C) An inspection shall not be required if, within the two-year period immediately preceding the change of occupancy, a change of occupancy occurred in the unit which resulted in an inspection and certification of compliance with the Rental Housing Standards Code. All costs of compliance with the Rental Housing Standards Code shall be paid by the owner of the unit. The owner of the dwelling shall pay a fee of $25 for the inspection required under this section. The Municipal Building Inspector is hereby authorized to reduce the required inspection fee to no less than $10 for each rental dwelling unit for owners of multiple rental dwelling units who agree to have a sufficient number of said owner’s dwelling units inspected at least once every two years regardless of change in occupancy. The Building Inspector shall determine eligibility for the reduced inspection fee.
(D) The owner of a residential dwelling unit shall have a period of 60 days from the date of initial inspection to bring the unit into compliance with the Code. An additional 60-day period shall be allowed, upon payment of a fee of $25 for said extension to the city; provided that, the extension fee must be paid prior to the expiration of the initial 60-day period. Any further extension must be requested by the City Council prior to the expiration of the original period allowed for compliance, and the City Council shall have the authority to grant or deny requests for additional extensions of time.
(E) An owner of a residential dwelling unit who has failed to report a change of occupancy which requires an inspection; failed to allow the municipality to inspect a residential dwelling covered by this section; failed to pay fees required under this section; failed to bring a dwelling into compliance with the Code within the time allowed to said owner, or an owner in violation of any other aspect of this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and a new violation shall be deemed to have been committed for each 24 hours of continued non-compliance.
(F) Notwithstanding the above, the Municipal Building Inspector shall have the authority to order an inspection of any residential dwelling covered by this section for the purpose of determining whether or not said dwelling is in compliance with the Code. No fee shall be required for the inspection ordered by the Building Inspector under this provision. If it is determined, after any such inspection, that a dwelling is not in compliance, all owners of said dwelling shall be in violation of this section until said dwelling is brought into compliance with this section, and a new violation shall be deemed to have been committed for each 24 hours of continued non-compliance.
(1976 Code, § 9-506) (Ord. 1045, passed 12-9-1991; Ord. 1102, passed 12-6-1993; Ord. 1211, passed 3-18-1996)
Statutory reference:
Related provisions, see Neb. RS 17-1001, 18,132, 19-902