A panel handpicked by the city of Greensboro’s inspection department agreed last week to eliminate mandatory inspection of rental properties and grant lifetime certification to those that have been documented as being up to code.
The
city has received widespread publicity and acclaim for nearing complete
inspection of rental housing as a five-year cycle begun in 2004 comes
to a close at the end of this year. Dan Reynolds, the city’s code
enforcement manager, said as of July 31 the city had inspected and
certified 31,351 out 32,392 properties — or 96.8 percent of the total.
Still,
the total number only counts rental units identified in 2003 through
city planning records and doesn’t include units that have come into the
rental market since then or those added through annexation. It also
excludes dormitories and nursing homes.
An investigation by YES! Weekly suggests
that less than half of the city’s rental housing stock has been
inspected and certified. The newspaper requested certificates of
occupancy for 25 separate addresses confirmed as occupied rental
properties. The blind sample — to ensure reliable results, the reporter
did not know the properties’ status beforehand — included both
apartment complexes and single-family homes. Many of the addresses were
gleaned through personal contacts.
In response to the request, inspections staff indicated that only 11 of the 25 properties had been inspected and certified.
Reynolds
said he was not surprised by the result. “Aunt May might have just
started renting the family home,” he said. “A lot of what we have to do
is education of new landlords. These places will continue to be rented
unless we come up with a way to identify it through the tax records.”
Engineering
and Inspections Director Butch Simmons said once the five-year
inspection cycle ends in December the city will start identifying
rental properties that previously fell through the cracks.
“All
the properties will be inspected at the end of the year,” he said.
“Because of the education process people will be looking for that
inspection certificate before people rent anything.”
Eliminating
mandatory inspections of the city’s rental housing stock will
essentially return Greensboro to a complaint driven system.
City
staff members have warned in the past that many tenants, particularly
immigrants, are reluctant to bring code violations to the attention of
their landlord or city inspectors.
A handful of tenants who requested anonymity told YES! Weekly they
tolerate violations in their homes for a variety of reasons, including
concern that landlords would retaliate by pursuing eviction or that the
costs of repairs would be passed along to them in the form of rent
hikes. Tenants interviewed ranged from a professional to a man who has
been at risk of homelessness in the past. In the face of heavy pressure
from real estate interests to scrap the certification program
altogether, representatives of a tenant advocacy group and neighborhood
associations proposed a new system requiring property owners to vouch
for the good standing of their rental property. The specially appointed
stakeholder group, which met with city staff in the basement of the
inspection department building on 4th Street passes its recommendation
up through the more formal Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy Board,
also known as the RUCO Board, to the city council. The council, in
turn, is almost certain to approve the amendment, considering that
representatives of tenants and the property management industry alike
back the recommendation.
In a remarkable display of
cooperation, the jovial and collegial group concluded an agreement in
about two hours. It largely ratified a handful of face to-face meetings
and e-mail exchanges between representatives of various real estate
lobbies and Simmons.
“Butch had thrown out that the RUCO
certificate would be permanent unless the certificate had been
revoked,” said Marlene Sanford, president of the Triad Real Estate and
Business Industries Coalition, adding, “I think we talked about whether
the ordinance could be sunsetted. I don’t think we came to any
resolution on that.” Changes to the rental inspection program were
discussed in a July 10 e mail from Simmons to Peter Placentino, vice
president for property management at Brown Investment Properties, a
board member of the Triad Apartment Association
and a key broker in the agreement sealed on Aug. 28. “If no complaints
resulting in a loss of a RUCO certificate [occur] within the 5 year period the existing certificates would remain valid,” Simmons
wrote. Amy Williams, an Elon Law School student and intern with the
Greensboro Neighborhood Congress, said her organization supported
automatic renewal of the certificates. “If we have automatic renewal
for everyone,” she asked, “what is the point [of the program]?” “That’s
what we’ve been asking for years,” Sanford replied.
Many of
those meeting at the inspections department building on Aug. 28
indicated that they are comfortable with doing away with mandatory
inspections.
“Everything is complaint-driven,” said Todd
Rotruck, a designated representative of the Greensboro Neighborhood
Congress, who remodels houses for resale.
“It would be
consistent for this board [RUCO] to function in the same manner.” Beth
McKee-Huger, executive director of the Greensboro Housing Coalition,
argued in favor of allowing property owners to police themselves.
“Complaint-driven
alone did not take care of the problem,” she said. “I think that rather
than automatic renewal, it would help for the owners to say, ‘I still
own this property. I manage it correctly, and I respond to calls for
repairs promptly.’ And if they don’t, then they get re-inspected.”
Placentino
pushed back. “Part of me, it just rubs me the wrong way that I have to
certify that I’m good,” he said. The panelists agreed on a proposal to
have property owners check off a questionnaire included in their annual
property tax bill. The plan depends on the cooperation of the Guilford
County Tax Department. In theory, property owners would check off a box
stating that their property holds a certificate in good standing.
Failure to do so would prompt a new inspection.
The panelists
concluded that an arrangement allowing property owners to report
annually on the status of their properties would render largely
meaningless any requirement that the certificates be periodically
renewed.
“Do we need to renew certificates every five years,”
asked Rotruck of the neighborhood congress, “or do we do lifetime
certification?” “Let’s do lifetime certification,” answered Sanford of
TREBIC.
Placentino of Brown Investment Properties said he
anticipated that the recommendations would be discussed in detail by
the RUCO Board, but would encounter few hurdles.
“I
believe the proposed recommendations discussed today will be adopted by
the RUCO board, and recommended to council,” he said. Two key members
of the council’s liberal voting bloc have indicated comfort with the
changes under discussion. Mayor Yvonne Johnson enjoys strong support
from the real estate lobby, but often displays rhetorical sympathy for
the city’s poorest residents. At-large Councilman Robbie Perkins, a
registered Republican on the nonpartisan board, presides over one of
the Triad’s largest commercial real estate companies. His liberal
leanings have been displayed in votes to keep the White Street Landfill
in northeast Greensboro closed and in his support of City Manager MitchellJohnson’s
handling of the resignation of former police Chief David Wray. Mayor
Johnson indicated in comments two days before the agreement was made
that she would support such an amendment.
“I would support
some way of verifying that the property owner is still the property
owner, and that certification of the property is in good standing, and
the property is in satisfactory condition,” she said. Perkins has
indicated full confidence in Simmons’ initiative to change the rental
inspection program in previous comments.
“Are the changes
reasonable? Yes,” he said. “Are the recommendations being made by
someone who knows what they’re doing? Yes. Why should I dispute that?”
The city council’s conservative bloc — a bipartisan coalition
consisting of District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny, District 4 Councilman
Mike Barber and District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade — favoring reduced
regulation and smaller government is also unlikely to oppose the
changes.
At the conclusion of the deal hammered out in the
basement of the inspections department building on 4th Street,
Placentino summed up the spirit of cooperation in a comment to
Reynolds.
“Dan, let it be known there was a meeting of Greensboro citizens,” he said, “where everybody actually agreed on something.”
To comment on this story, e-mail Jordan Green at jordan@yesweekly.com.
