A. Purpose: It is the purpose of this chapter to assure 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. Operators are responsible to take such reasonable steps as are necessary to assure 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 crimes and criminal activity, noise, nuisances or annoyances; free from reasonable fears about safety of persons and security of property; and suitable for raising children.
B. Intent: With respect to rental disputes and except as otherwise specifically provided by the terms of this chapter, it is not the intention of the City to intrude upon the fair and acceptable relationship between tenant and landlord. The City does not intend to intervene as an advocate of either party, or to act as an arbiter, or to be receptive of complaints from a tenant or landlord which are not specifically and clearly relevant to the provisions of this chapter. In the absence of such relevancy, with regard to rental disputes, it is intended that the contracting parties exercise such legal rights as are available to them without the intervention of the City. (Prior Code § 7-11-1)