It is the purpose of this subchapter to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the community at large and the residents of rental dwellings in the city and to ensure that rental housing in the city is decent, safe, and sanitary and is so operated and maintained as not to become a nuisance to the neighborhood or to become an influence that fosters blight and deterioration or creates a disincentive to reinvestment in the community. The operation of rental residential properties is a business enterprise that entails certain responsibilities. Owners and operators are responsible to take such reasonable steps as are necessary to ensure that the citizens of the city who occupy such units may pursue the quiet enjoyment of the normal activities of life in surroundings that are: safe, secure, and sanitary; free from noise, nuisances, or annoyances; and free from unreasonable fears about safety of persons and security of property.
(Prior Code, § 3-16-1)