The purpose of this chapter is to establish minimum quality standards for all residential rental dwellings, rental dwelling units, rooming houses and rooming units; to provide for the enforcement of such standards; to establish a program of regular rental inspections; and to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the residents of the City. In order to meet the purpose of this chapter, the City intends:
1. To establish standards for basic equipment and facilities for light, ventilation and thermal conditions; for safety from fire or accident; for an adequate level of maintenance; and for the use, location and amount of space for human occupancy;
2. To define the responsibility of owners, operators and occupants of dwellings in securing City-wide compliance with minimum physical standards for rental property;
3. To contain and eliminate urban blight and deterioration of rental property and neighborhoods;
4. To prevent the unintentional development of conditions that are hazardous to the public health and safety;
5. To assure that dangerous conditions be prevented or abated;
6. To establish the authority, responsibility and administrative mechanism to inspect rental dwelling places through a systematic, area-by-area procedure;
7. To establish the authority, responsibility and administrative mechanism to treat specific problems on a complaint basis; and
8. To establish a baseline for minimum design and installation standards for dwelling units that may have been constructed without benefit of codes.
It is not the intent of this chapter to protect the individual, but rather to protect the public as a whole.