(a) Compliance. All persons shall meet the minimum standards set forth in this section to be in compliance with this Code.
(b) License Required; Display. No person shall operate a boarding or rooming house unless he holds a valid license issued by the City of Salem in the name of the operator for the specific boarding or rooming house. This license shall be displayed in a conspicuous place within the boarding or rooming house at all times.
Every boarding or rooming house license shall expire at the end of one year following its date of issuance.
(c) License Issuance. No boarding or rooming house license may be issued without the written endorsement of the Fire Department with respect to the conformance of the subject property to ordinances, rules and regulations which these officers are required to enforce.
(d) Fees. The fee shall be thirty dollars ($30.00) for any boarding or rooming house.
(e) License Nontransferable; Transfer of Ownership. A boarding or rooming house license is not transferable. When a person who holds a boarding or rooming house license transfers his interest in or control of a boarding or rooming house he shall include the name and address of the person succeeding to the ownership or control of the boarding or rooming house.
(f) Denial of License. When the Enforcing Official denies an application for a boarding or rooming house permit, he shall notify the applicant in writing. A notice of denial shall include the date of denial, the time within which a request for hearing may be made, and a brief statement of the facts upon which the denial was based.
(g) Hearing. Any person whose application for a license to operate a boarding or rooming house has been denied may request and shall be granted a hearing before the Board of Housing Appeals under the procedure provided in Section 1309.09
.
(h) Service of Notice; Ceasing Operation. When the Enforcing Official finds that the operator of a boarding or rooming house has violated this Code, he shall serve a written notice of violation upon the operator under the procedure provided by Section 1309.09
. If the violation is not remedied within a reasonable period of time specified in the notice, then the Enforcing Official shall suspend the permit of the operator. Upon receipt of notice of suspension, the operator shall immediately cease operation of such boarding or rooming house, and no person shall occupy for sleeping or living purposes any rooming unit therein.
(i) Request or Failure to Request Hearing. Any person whose license to operate a boarding or rooming house has been suspended, or who has received a written notice that his license is to be suspended unless an existing violation is corrected, may request and shall be granted a hearing before the Board of Housing Appeals under the procedure provided by Section 1309.09
; provided, that if no petition for such hearing is filed within ten days after the date such license was suspended, such permit shall be automatically revoked.
(j) Bathroom Facilities. At least one flush water closet, lavatory basin, and bathtub or shower, properly connected to a water and sewer system approved by the Enforcing Official and in good working condition, shall be provided for each six persons or fraction thereof residing within a boarding or rooming house. Where rooms are let only to males, flush urinals may be substituted for not more than one half the required water closets. All facilities shall be so located within the dwelling as to be reasonably accessible from a common hall or passageway to all persons sharing such facilities. Every lavatory and bathtub or shower shall always be supplied with hot water at all times.
(k) Required Floor Space. Every room occupied for sleeping purposes by one person shall contain at least seventy square feet of floor space, and every room occupied for sleeping purposes by more than one person shall contain at least fifty square feet for each occupant.
(l) Method of Egress. Every boarding or rooming unit shall have a safe and unobstructed means of egress leading to safe and open spaces at ground level as required by the laws of the State and City.
(m) Sanitary Conditions. The operator of every boarding or rooming house shall change supplied bed linen and towels therein at least once each week, and prior to the letting of any room to any occupant. The operator shall be responsible for the maintenance of all supplied bedding in a clean and sanitary manner.
The operator of every boarding or rooming house shall be responsible for the sanitary maintenance of all walls, floors and ceilings. He shall also be responsible for maintenance of a sanitary condition in every other part of the boarding or rooming house and for the sanitary maintenance of the premises of the boarding or rooming house.
(n) Application of Code. Every provision of this Code which applies to boarding or rooming houses also applies to hotels, motels, tourist homes and rest homes, except to the extent that any such provision may be found in conflict with the laws of this State or with the lawful regulations of any State board or agency, then the higher standards shall apply.
(Ord. 210119-02. Passed 1-19-21.)