(a) Licensing. No person shall own, operate or be an agent for a residential rental unit without having in his their possession a current, unrevoked housing license. Such license shall be issued for a period of one year from the date of issuance and may be renewed for successive periods not to exceed one year. Upon the sale or disposition of such property, the housing license shall be permitted to be transferred to a new owner, operator or agent provided that the current holder of such license notifies the Health Commissioner or Community Development Director.
(1) The Health Commissioner must license all residential rental units that are located in:
A. A multifamily dwelling;
B. A two family dwelling that contains a dwelling unit that has a rooming house with more than three unrelated residents;
C. A two family dwelling that contains a dwelling unit that has a boarding house with more than three unrelated residents; OR
D. A single family dwelling that contains more than three unrelated residents.
(2) The Director of Community Development must license all residential rental units not described in subsection 1367.01(a)(1).
(b) Application. Prior to obtaining a housing license for a residential rental unit, the owner, operator or agent of the residential rental unit must make application on the prescribed forms, to the Health Commissioner or Community Development Director, as required by Section 1367.01
. Such application shall be submitted with all requested information completed, signed and accompanied by the appropriate fee. The due date will be 30 days before the new licensing period. Failure to submit the application and licensing fee by the applicable due date will result in a late fee of an additional 25%.
(c) Fee. No operating license shall be issued or renewed unless the completed application form is accompanied by payment of the license fee. The cost of the license fee is one hundred dollars ($100.00) per dwelling, plus an additional five dollars ($5.00) per bedroom within the dwelling unit. For purposes of calculating the license fee only:
(1) If a building contains a single dwelling unit, the building shall be considered a single dwelling.
(2) If a building contains multiple dwelling units, and each dwelling unit has a separate egress route, the building shall be considered a single dwelling.
(3) If a building contains multiple dwelling units that share an egress route, the number of dwellings will be determined by the number of separate egress routes needed to access all of the dwelling units.
(4) Condominiums shall be considered separate dwellings except condominiums on the same parcel with the same ownership shall be treated as a single dwelling. Condominiums on the same parcel with different ownership but the same operator may, at the discretion of each owner, elect to be treated as a single dwelling.
(d) Inspection.
A. Prior to obtaining a housing license for a residential rental unit described in subsection 1367.01(d)(1), the responsible owner, operator or agent shall schedule an inspection with the Health Commissioner at least 30 days before the new licensing period of said residential rental unit.
B. No housing license shall be issued or renewed until a residential rental unit is inspected and determined to be in compliance with the requirements of this Housing Code.
C. The frequency of inspections for a residential rental unit inspected under this section must be determined by the Health Commissioner.
D. Re-inspection. After the initial inspection of a residential rental unit is completed by the Health Department under this section, a reasonable amount of time will be allowed by the Health Department for the owner, operator or agent of the residential rental unit to correct potential violations. Failure to correct the violations by the re-inspection shall result in a non-compliance fee of up to seventy-five dollars ($75.00).
E. Non-compliance. The Health Commissioner has the authority to condemn any residential rental unit described in subsection 1367.01(d)(1) that fails to comply with this housing code.
F. Any residential rental unit described in subsection 1367.01(d)(1) without a current license for more than 30 days may be condemned by the Health Commissioner.
A. Prior to obtaining a housing license for a residential rental unit described in subsection 1367.01(a)(2), the owner, operator or agent shall have the residential rental unit inspected by the Director of Community Development at least 30 days before the new licensing period of said residential rental unit.
B. No housing license shall be issued or renewed until a residential rental unit is inspected and determined to be in compliance with the requirements of this Housing Code.
C. The frequency of inspections for the renewal of a housing license issued for a residential rental unit inspected under this section shall be determined by the Director of the Community Development Department.
E. Re-inspection. After the initial inspection of residential rental unit is completed by the Community Development Department under this section, a reasonable amount of time will be allowed for the owner, operator or agent to correct potential violations. A re-inspection may be required to verify that the corrections were made by the assigned date and time. Failure to correct the violations by the re-inspection shall result in a non-compliance fee of up to seventy-five dollars ($75.00) per re-inspection.
E. Non-compliance. The Chief Building Official, or his designee, has the authority to condemn any residential rental unit that fails to comply with the City of Kent Planning and Zoning Code (Part 11), the Building Code (Part 13) including this Housing Code, and the Property Maintenance, Housing and Enforcement Code (Part 14), or this housing code.
F. Any residential rental unit described subsection 1367.01(a)(2) without a current housing license for more than 30 days may be condemned by the Director of Community Development.
(3) In the event that a housing license expires before it the housing license is renewed, a late fee of 25% of the licensing fee will be required.
(e) Review of the Environmental Health and Housing Maintenance Code. The latest revision of the Environmental Health and Housing Maintenance Code was completed in 2016. The next scheduled review will take place no later than 2021.
(Ord. 2016-40. Passed 4-20-16.)