The following words and phrases shall have the following meanings respectively given to them in this Chapter:
(a) “Apartment” means an attached dwelling unit with party or common walls, contained in a building with other dwelling units or sharing the occupancy of a building with other than a residential use. Apartments are commonly accessed by common stair landing or walkway. Apartments are typically rented to the occupants. Apartment buildings often may have a central heating system and other central utility connections. Apartments typically do not have their own yard space. Apartments are also known as garden apartments or flats.
(b) “Apartment complex” means one or more parcels of land containing a group of multifamily structures owned or managed by the same person or entity. Apartment complexes typically provide parking lots and other site amenities for tenants and guests.
(c) “Building Code” means Chapter 1420
, as amended, of the Code of Ordinances of Southgate, Michigan.
(d) “Building Official” means the City employee or his/her designee responsible for conducting inspections under the building code, rental inspection guidelines, and property maintenance code for residential rental structures and residential rental units.
(e) “Certificate of compliance” means a certificate issued by the City's Building Department indicating that the residential rental structure or dwelling unit identified on the certificate complies with all the applicable provisions of this code and other applicable state laws and City ordinances, particularly the property maintenance code and the fire prevention code.
(f) “Certificate of compliance incentive bonus” means an additional twelve months period of time that a certificate of compliance is valid.
(g) “Department” means the City of Southgate Building Department.
(h) “Dwelling” means a building or portion thereof which is used exclusively as a residence and provides complete, independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.
(i) “Duplex dwelling” means a detached building, designed exclusively for, and occupied by two (2) families living independently of each other, with separate housekeeping, cooking, and bathroom facilities for each family.
(j) “Fee” means a monetary fee determined from time to time by City Council resolution.
(k) “Initial phase-in period” means the period from the effective date of this Chapter through completion of the first inspection cycle, a duration of approximately two (2) years, during which time all multifamily residential rental structures and residential rental units in existence on the effective date of this Chapter shall be required to be inspected and issued a Certificate of Compliance. It shall be permissible for a tenant to continue to occupy an existing residential rental unit during the initial phase-in period barring any order of the Building Official or Fire Marshal to the contrary.
(l) “Inspection guidelines” means the provisions of Chapter 1422
of the Southgate City Code entitled International Property Maintenance Code.
(m) “Lease” means any written or oral agreement that sets forth conditions concerning the use and occupancy of residential rental structures or residential rental units between an owner and tenant.
(n) “Life safety code violation” means any physical condition or violation of the City's property maintenance code, fire code, building code, mechanical code, electrical code, plumbing code, blight ordinance, or county, state and federal health and safety regulations that, in the opinion of the Building Official or Fire Marshal, poses an immediate threat to the life, health, and safety of occupants of a structure or the general public.
(o) “Manufactured home” means homes built as dwelling units of at least 320 square feet in size with a permanent chassis to assure the initial and continued transportability of the home. All transportable sections of manufactured homes built in the U.S. after June 15, 1976 must contain a label that certifies that the manufacturer has built the home in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards.
(p) “Mobile home” means any vehicle designed or constructed so as to permit its being used as a conveyance upon the public streets or highways, and constructed in such a manner as will permit occupancy thereof as a dwelling or sleeping place for one or more persons.
(q) “Mobile home park” means any plot of ground upon which three or more mobile/manufactured homes, occupied for dwelling or sleeping purposes, are located.
(r) “Multifamily accessory facility” means a common hallway or stairs, mechanical room, boiler room, laundry room, storage area, recreation facility, or other similar facility located within a multifamily structure or on the property of one or more multifamily structures.
(s) “Multifamily structure” means a building consisting of three or more dwellings.
(t) “Owner” means a person or entity with legal or possessory interest in a dwelling unit.
(u) Registration means submittal of an official City application form and fee to the Building Department reporting ownership of a multifamily residential rental structure including all required data and information regarding said structure, dwellings, and accessory facilities contained within said structure, and upon said premises, and including the Responsible Local Agent where applicable.
(v) “Rent” means the consideration paid for the right to use and possess property, examples of which include, but are not limited to, the payment of money, the payment of taxes, the payment of utilities, the exchange of goods or services, the performance of home improvements or routine maintenance, the occupancy of a dwelling to maintain security, a form of employment compensation, the bartered or discounted exchange(s) of merchandise or services, labor, and the like.
(w) “Responsible local agent” means an individual person, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity that represents the owner and/or manages a residential rental structure and its residential rental units on behalf of the owner. The responsible local agent must have a place of business or residence in the United States within fifty miles of the Southgate City limits. The responsible local agent shall be designated by the owner as responsible for operating such premises in compliance with all the provisions of the City codes and ordinances. The owner may act as the responsible local agent provided that the owner resides or has a place of business in the United States within fifty miles ofthe Southgate City limits.
(x) “Temporary certificate of compliance” means a certificate issued for a residential rental structure or unit, following an inspection, which is found to be in substantial compliance with the Code and which, in the opinion of the building official, has no life/safety code violations. Such certificate shall state any remaining violations to be corrected and the date it expires. A reasonable extension may be granted at the discretion of the department. Failure by the owner to correct the violations within the specified time shall constitute a violation of this Chapter.
(y) “Tenant” means the person, under a lease or who pays rent, entitled to the use and occupancy of a dwelling unit or any portion thereof.
(Ord. 23-1036. Passed 7-5-23; Ord. 24-1042. Passed 6-5-24.)