Rental housing appeals boards gets update
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By Jeff Snyder
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — The Mount Ayr Housing Appeals Board held its regularly scheduled meeting on March 24 to learn of the progress with the ongoing rental housing inspection process.
Dennis Dugan, the lead inspector on this project, led the discussion with board members. As a procedural process, the board needed to chose their leadership team. After discussion it was decided to keep the existing membership structure in tact, which includes Chairman Eric Friedrich, Vice Chairman Wiley Main and Secretary Erica Shields.
Dugan went on to update members as to the status of the rental property inspections currently underway. Last fall, the Mount Ayr City Council convened and implemented the formal inspection process including getting legal advice and document preparation help from legal council. Upon approval, the city along with Dugan, agreed to send out a letter to each of the current landlords located throughout the city limits regarding the upcoming inspection requirements.
To date there are 88 rental property owners who have registered to have the inspection process performed on their properties. The city was divided into quadrants (northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast) The inspection crews opted to start in the northeast quadrant and have since conducted five inspections. Of the five inspections conducted, three were approved and two are pending additional work in order to gain approval.
The majority of the items needing attention in order to receive a passing grade were minor. Items such as screen repairs, gutter cleaning and smoke detectors were common items that needed addressing. Other items involved somewhat more involved repairs such as electrical outlets, light fixture replacement and missing safety railings were cited as needed repairs. Upon completion of the listed repairs necessary, a follow-up inspection will take place to check for compliance.
According to Dugan, the landlords have been very cooperative so far regarding the needed repairs. Although no specific timeline for completion was established, Dugan indicated that he was going to try and do two inspections per day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each inspection takes between 45 minutes and an hour to complete not counting follow-up visits to verify indicated repairs have been completed. Inspections typically involve two people on the inspection crews to maintain safety and security.
Dugan agreed to reach out to the Mount Ayr Fire Department in an effort to get information to the landlord community regarding affordable smoke and carbon monoxide detection equipment, which as indicated was a common fault item noted during inspections.
The Housing Appeals Board has the ability to make recommendations to the full city council should they uncover any unforeseen issues with the code as written. Regular updates will be forthcoming.
