Aberdeen city councilman Mark Remily wants to talk about inspecting rental properties in our fair city. Aberdeen does fire and safety inspections on rental properties with three or more units, but not typical rental houses.
Landlord Dan Zumbaum balks:
“If they’re inspecting a rental home, they should inspect personal homes, too,” Zumbaum said [Elisa Sand, “Remily Suggests Reviving Rental Housing Inspection Debate (paywall),” Aberdeen American News, 2018.08.29].
Zumbaum incorrectly likens rental homes to private homes. A man’s home is his castle; a man’s rental house is his business—i.e., his commercial enterprise, subject to a different tax classification and different regulations. What happens (and what rots) in a rental home is more within the government’s purview than an owner-occupied residence because it involves a business relationship between at least two parties. The government has as much a case to make in inspecting the quality of a house offered for leased occupancy to paying customers as the government has to inspect meat sold on the free market and the kitchens in which said meat is prepared.
Zumbaum understands that two-way relationship better than his above comment suggests. In another breath to the press, Zumbaum identifies an aspect of that two-way relationship that could lead to an acceptable inspection regime, one that would offer enforcement on landlords and tenants alike:
“If you want to come out and inspect, get my tenants to pay (their rent),” he said.
Zumbaum said tenants already have several resources to mediate issues with a landlord, but a landlord has to pursue unpaid rent with a civil lawsuit [Sand, 2018.08.29].
Maybe there’s a deal to be struck: maybe landlords would put up with an inspection regime if the city promised to put equal effort into helping landlords collect from deadbeat tenants. If the city would impose inspections and enforcement penalties on landlords who don’t keep up their end of a lease by maintaining safe, healthy domiciles for their renters, perhaps the city could also consider imposing fines on tenants who don’t keep up their end of the deal by paying their rent on time.
Then again, maybe landlords don’t have anything to worry about: according to Sand’s article, the inspections Remily, Zumbaum, and others will argue about would affect 5,500 rental units in the city. If an inspection took one hour and the city hired two full-time rental inspection officers, it would take them two years and nine months to inspect every affected rental unit once.
Perhaps an inspection would be appropriate after a tenant leaves, but I’m not sure yet how I feel about the government coming in while I still live there. My initial feeling is negative.
Mr. H makes a lot of sense. If you shoot a beast and cut it up in your kitchen and cook it in your oven, the government should not inspect or interfere. But if you shoot a beast and cut it up in your kitchen and serve it to me on your patio where you charged me to sit and drink beers and eat this meat, then you probably should be held to some accountability.
Now, if you want to have grudznick on your patio to drink beers and eat meats for no charge, just as a guest, then no inspection.
Would it be like game fish n Parks who don’t need a warrant and can have access upon demand?
And what guidelines are adequate for a landlord to be able too rent?
H2 a workers have their living quarters inspected before we can be approved to have them and house them, would it be wuid lines in that order? So many bodies per square foot?
So much for the college kids cramming in to save on a little rent.,,,,
I’m not for people being spied on so my vote
Is no. Let social media be the judge and jury post your rental problem with landlord name
Fastest way to solve an issue
Maybe Aberdeen should have a housing court that meets once a week. That would take care of rental issues, including unpaid rent, evictions, etc. Evictions shouldn’t be so expensive and slum lords shouldn’t be allowed to let their buildings deteriorate.
Aberdeen might need a better, more explicit, housing code.
Housing court—I’ve never heard that phrase! Debbo, does any city offer a housing court, or some similar rental mediation service?
Ben, I agree, I don’t like the idea of government coming into where I live, paid, mortgaged, or rented, without a warrant. But we run into the complicated nature of rentals as a business. How different are our rights to privacy when we don’t own that sacred living space?
Here is a short list of several terrible ideas stemming from this conversation:
Levy fines against people so poor they can’t afford their f*cking shelter;
Make local governments bigger; and
Spend more taxpayer money on a fraction of the population who likely pay little or no tax.
How about instead, adults assert their rights like grown-ups. If your rental home is not up to your expectations, exercise your right to seek legal recourse or get the heck out. If your lame tenant isn’t paying their rent, exercise your right to seek legal recourse or shut the heck up. Friggin’ people these days just can’t do anything for themselves.
Cory, Hennepin (Minneapolis) and Ramsey (St. Paul) Counties has very explicit codes regarding rentals with the rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords spelled out. It makes it much easier to settle disagreements because refinements to the code made over the years really do cover pretty much everything.
I’m not certain of all the details, just the ones I’ve experienced. I believe the way the court works is that it’s not technically a separate thing, but they set aside the same time, day, judge and courtroom weekly just for rental cases. That way the judge and court workers are very familiar with pertinent laws.
Both tenants and landlords still have complaints about this system, but it’s much better than a free for all.
If a tenant has moved out, then by all means inspect. That makes sense to me. If they still live there? I would assume you would still need for there to be a problem. Landlords should also get help with tenants who don’t pay their rent. I don’t know about fines because in lot of cases that might make the problem worse. Can they not pay simply because they’ve taken a too expensive apartment? Do they qualify for Section 8 housing or some other kind of assistance? I can definitely see an opportunity for better government in this area.
Oh, here in Minn, landlords cannot enter apartments without prior notice and tenant’s permission.
Debbo said “Oh, here in Minn, landlords cannot enter apartments without prior notice and tenant’s permission.”
Except when they can. There are dozens of exceptions. That’s the default law pretty much everywhere, but landlord/tenant stuff is tricky. A rental property is one person’s business asset. It’s one person’s private residence. There are competing interests of privacy, public safety, and a free housing market. This is why most landlords I know hate being landlords and wish they could go back and find a different investment or hobby.
You guys should just let the officials into your homes to inspect whenever they would like. You trust them with your health care. Just let them in. Heck, give them a key. You are all so brilliant.
We’re talking rentals, not homes, OS, as I already made clear in the original post. Don’t just try to start fights. Read first, and pay attention.
Ryan, I don’t like the options much. I wonder: is the rental business a uniquely tough situation to ensure that customers pay on time and to get payments from those who skip out? Is it any different from other businesses that provide services in terms of collections?