A. Upon submission of a completed application for a registration or a registration renewal for any residential rental property and the payment of all required fees, an inspection of the residential rental property shall be scheduled by the applicant with the Code Official to occur within two (2) weeks.
B. Upon receipt of a completed application for a registration or a registration renewal for any residential rental property, including the payment of all required fees and the scheduling of a required registration inspection, the property is authorized to be used as a residential rental property. Registration shall be issued or denied after the property has been inspected for compliance with applicable City codes. A temporary use of the property as a residential rental property shall authorize continued occupancy of the residential rental property pending the issuance or denial of the applied for registration. The temporary allowance of use of the property may be continued until the scheduled date of the registration inspection and following the registration inspection until the date of reinspection issued by the Code Official or his or her designee. However, in no case shall a temporary use of the property as a residential rental property be valid for longer than one hundred twenty (120) days.
C. A registration inspection of residential rental property shall include the premises and, in the case of multi-family residential rental property, a percentage of the individual dwelling units with a minimum of at least one dwelling unit. The Code Official or his designee shall determine which dwelling units are to be inspected.
D. A registration reinspection shall be conducted at the end of the compliance time frame. Upon completion of the registration reinspection of the residential rental property, the Code Official shall:
1. Approve the registration if the residential rental property meets the requirements of applicable City codes; or
2. Approve a temporary registration if the property cannot be fully registered due to special circumstances; or
3. Issue a written denial of the registration and revoke the temporary use permitted by the filing of the application for registration if the requirements of City codes have not been met. The written denial shall specify the defect(s) that remain and shall be transmitted by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner or property agent identified by the applicant.
E. A temporary registration may be issued for a term not exceeding six (6) months to those rental properties which cannot be fully registered due to special circumstances (e.g., weather conditions, unavailability of required materials or services, or other circumstances approved by the Code Official). Any property which has not met the requirements of the applicable City codes by the end of the conditional registration term shall be considered unregistered.
F. A residential rental property which is in total compliance at the time of the registration inspection shall receive a registration to replace the temporary certificate. If said property remains in compliance and no violations occur within the period covered by the registration and the tenants do not change during the registration period, a one year extension of the registration may be given, with no additional inspections being required, provided a registration renewal fee is paid. If any violation occurs, then an additional inspection may be required.
G. If during a registration inspection any dwelling unit is determined to be unfit for occupancy as specified in the City's Property Maintenance Code, an additional number of the dwelling units in the subject residential rental property will be inspected. The number of units to be inspected shall be determined by the Code Official. If similar violations are observed in the additional dwelling units, the entire residential rental property will be subject to inspection. Any unit found unfit for occupancy shall be subject to the enforcement procedures contained in the City's Property Maintenance Code.
H. All additional inspections made necessary because of cited violations not being corrected at the time of the initial registration reinspection, access is denied, or when the owner/tenant is not ready for a scheduled inspection, shall be subject to a fee as specified in the master fee schedule, except that a single reinspection will be conducted at the end of the temporary registration term without added fees for the purpose of determining compliance. The temporary registration and the full residential rental registration shall not be issued and the property shall not be considered properly registered until all reinspection fees are paid.
I. Applications for registration renewals shall be made in the same manner as for new applications except that such applications shall state thereon such fact. (Ord. O-07-001, 1-4-2007; amd. Ord. O-18-024, 7-19-2018; Ord. O-22-031, 11-17-2022)