Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 29, 1995 TAG: 9507310051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHEBA WHEELER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Residents are invited to attend a Rental Inspection Program workshop that will start at 7 p.m. at Second Presbyterian Church.
"The concept is to inspect all vacant rental units before they are reoccupied to make sure they meet minimum standards for maintenance and safety," said Dan Pollock, the city's housing development coordinator. "We believe that making sure rental properties meet these standards will help keep them in good shape and reduce the likelihood that they will become unsafe or an eyesore to the neighborhood."
The law allows inspections within "conservation and rehabilitation" districts. The city has 11 such districts, whose areas extend from the boundary with Vinton on the east, west to Lafayette Boulevard and 24th Street, and south to the Roanoke River. More than 6,000 rental units are involved.
Among the issues housing officials must consider is the program's potential impact on the number of low-cost rental units.
"If the landlord puts money into these properties, he will be entitled and able to up his rent," Pollock said.
"The key will be finding the right balance among the interests of potential tenants, the rental property owners, and other residents of the neighborhood," said Marian Alam, the city's Neighborhood Partnership coordinator. "We want to keep the neighborhoods nice places to live, but don't want to burden responsible rental property owners with unreasonable demands."
The program is one way Roanoke can address urban renewal and find ways to best save the property it has through rehabilitation, said Petie Cavendish, a member of the board of directors of Old Southwest Inc., one of the neighborhood groups that pushed the city to adopt the program.
"Rental property for us is not an evil," Cavendish said. "But we do recognize that some of our neighbors need a little nudge to keep their property up."
But landlord Chuck Carpenter said an inspection requirement would infringe on his rights as a property owner.
"If my property meets normal city codes, I don't need a city inspector to come in and tell me how to rent it," Carpenter said. "I think this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and I can't imagine any landlord being in favor of it. I flat intend to do everything in my power to stop this."
Landlord Mike Fielder said he recognizes that there are some housing units in need of repair, but he also has mixed feelings about the project.
"It's hard to keep up a piece of rental property in a not-so-great neighborhood," Fielder said. "You can't keep spending tens of thousands of dollars on a property in repairs when it's only worth $10,000. It's not feasible to rent it if you have to make all of these repairs."
Property owners are not afraid of inspections, said landlord L.T. McGhee, but trying to implement the program could become an administrative nightmare filled with inspection backlogs for the city's two already overburdened building inspectors.
"I just don't think they realize how many times a property has a tenant turnover," McGhee said. "At the beginning of the month, you could have 800 people calling you telling you to inspect their property so it can be rerented. They are going to need about 10 more inspectors and two more secretaries to handle this. Who's going to pay for them, the taxpayers?"
The city has budgeted for one additional building inspector for the program.
The city will use recommendations from the workshop to formulate the program. It then will be presented to Roanoke City Council, along with any necessary changes to the city code, by September at the earliest.
Lynchburg, Norfolk, Alexandria, Newport News and Virginia Beach are some of the Virginia cities that have initiated similar programs.
by CNB