(A) (1) Any person aggrieved by any notice or order of the inspector issued under this subchapter may file a petition setting forth his or her reasons for contesting the notice or order with the City of Dayton Code Enforcement Board (hereafter referred to as “Board”), within seven (7) business days after receipt of such notice or order from the inspector.
(2) Upon receipt of the petition, the Board shall set a hearing date and notify the petitioner of this date. At the hearing, the city shall prosecute the case before the Board and present sufficient evidence to allow the Board to find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a violation has occurred.
(3) At the hearing, the petitioner shall be given an opportunity to show cause why the notice or order should be modified or withdrawn or why the period of time permitted for compliance should be extended.
(4) The Board may affirm, modify, or reverse the notice or order and may grant an extension of time for the performance of any act required where practical difficulty or undue hardship exists in connection with the performance of any act required by the notice or order and that such extension is in harmony with the general purpose of this subchapter to secure the public health, safety, and welfare, or the Board may fine the owner for noncompliance pursuant to the terms of this subchapter.
(B) In addition to the other remedies outlined in this subchapter, any rental inspection license issued by the city, with notice to the holder thereof and after a hearing, may be revoked or suspended by the Board for the following:
(1) If the owner continually and persistently allows a public nuisance on the premises or permits persons occupying any rental dwelling to make or cause any loud, unnecessary, or unusual noise or any noise which either annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, or safety, of others within the city limits;
(2) If the owner continually and persistently allows a public nuisance on the premises or permits persons occupying a rental dwelling to cause inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm or wantonly create a risk by engaging in fighting or in violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior, or to cause a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act that serves no legitimate purpose;
(3) If the owner continually and persistently allows a public nuisance on the premises or permits persons occupying any rental dwelling to emit or cause any foul, offensive, nauseous, noxious, or disagreeable odors that are extremely repulsive to the physical senses of reasonable persons, which annoy, cause discomfort, injury, or inconvenience to others within the city;
(4) If the owner fails to make corrections or repairs mandated by the inspector, which include, but are not limited to, work required to ensure the rental dwelling is safe and sanitary; or
(5) If the owner has failed to pay any city taxes, fees, or obligations.
(C) Final decisions of the Dayton Code Enforcement Board may be appealed to Campbell District Court.
(D) If an owner files an action for a writ of forcible detainer in the Campbell County District Court or for any action of ejectment in a court of competent jurisdiction for eviction of a tenant who is the cause of a nuisance, as described herein, then any proceeding before the Board shall be placed on hold pending a final determination by the court. If the court refuses to evict the offending tenant and the owner has made a good faith effort to abate the nuisance by eviction, then any pending proceeding before the Code Enforcement Board shall be dismissed. Dismissal shall not prevent the city, through the inspector, from implementing the provisions of this subchapter to abate future or continuing nuisances occurring in the rental dwelling.
(E) The inspector shall cooperate with an owner who is attempting to evict a tenant charged with creating a nuisance by furnishing documentary and/or oral evidence, if applicable, to the court to support the owner’s efforts to prove the existence of a nuisance.
(Ord. 2022-20, passed 9-6-22)