(A) The Commissioner of Public Safety or other city employee designated by the City Manager shall ensure that the Housing Inspector and the Environmental Codes Officer, or other such appropriate public official(s) as the City Commission or City Manager shall designate, shall inspect rental units within the City of Pikeville subject to the following schedule and procedures:
(1) Each unit shall be inspected by the designated inspectors before it is initially occupied by tenants or will be inspected within seven days upon learning that a unit has been occupied prior to receiving an inspection.
(2) The Commissioner of Public Safety or other city employee designated by the City Manager shall select one half of the rental units permitted at the annual landlord license renewal for inspection. These units shall be selected from the list provided by the Tax Administrator and shall not include those units which the landlord documented as having been inspected by the City of Pikeville under contract by the Pikeville Housing Authority. The number of assigned inspections shall equal the number for which the landlord paid at his license renewal and the selection shall be such that all rental units located within the City of Pikeville shall be inspected at least every two years.
(3) The designated inspectors shall inspect the rental units designated by the Commissioner of Public Safety within one year from the issuance of the unit's permit. Documentation of these inspections shall be returned to the Commissioner of Public Safety. Except for those inspections done for the Pikeville Housing Authority, as outlined above, these inspections shall be in addition to any other inspection required by law or herein to which an applicant for license or licenses shall consent, to determine the health and safety conditions of the apartment buildings, multiple dwellings, rooming houses, dwelling or dwelling units, within the city.
(4) The designated inspectors shall also provide documentation of inspections completed for the Pikeville Housing Authority to the Commissioner of Public Safety.
(5) On or before December 15 of each year, the Commissioner of Public Safety shall submit to the Tax Administrator a list of units that have been inspected since their last permit renewal. This list shall include the date of each unit's inspection and identify any units which were scheduled for inspection, but not completed.
(B) For the purpose of making this inspection, the Housing Inspector and, if necessary, the Environmental Codes Officer is hereby authorized to enter, examine, and survey at all reasonable times all apartment buildings, commercial buildings, multiple dwellings, rooming houses, dwellings, or dwelling units. The tenant or person in charge of an apartment building, commercial building, multiple dwelling, rooming house, dwelling, or dwelling unit shall give the Housing Inspector free access only to the leased portion of same or central facility serving same for the purpose of such inspection, examination, and survey. Similar access will be granted to the Environmental Codes Officer to review all exterior grounds and facilities for review of compliance with environmental codes.
(C) The Tax Administrator will assess a twenty-five dollar ($25.00) inspection fee to the property owner for each rental unit to be inspected as part of the landlord license application as outlined above. This fee will be a pre-payment for the initial or annual renewal inspections, depending upon whether this is the initial inspection of the unit or part of the landlord's annual renewal. This fee will also cover the Environmental Codes inspection. If violations occur that cannot be corrected during the initial inspection then the property owner will be assessed a fee of ten dollars ($10.00) for each return visit until which time the Housing Inspector or the Environmental Codes Officer are satisfied that the violation(s) have been corrected.
(D) A tenant may request an inspection of their unit as outlined in division (B) above at any time, but no more than once in any six (6) month period. Upon receipt of this request and payment of the inspection fee being made to the Tax Administrator by the tenant, the Housing Inspector and Environmental Codes Officer shall complete the inspection within thirty (30) days. The landlord will be notified prior to the inspection and both the tenant and the landlord will be notified of the results of the inspection. If violations occur that cannot be corrected during the initial inspection then the property owner will be assessed a fee of ten dollars ($10.00) for each return visit until such time the Housing Inspector or the Environmental Codes Officer are satisfied that the violation(s) have been corrected. This inspection shall not constitute the annual inspection of this unit.
(Ord. 0-90-007, passed 4-9-90; Am. Ord. 0-2010-015, passed 9-27-10; Am. Ord. 0-2011-017, passed 5-23-11; Am. Ord. O-2018-15, passed 7-23-18; Am. Ord. O-2020-15, passed 10-26-20)