New Detroit Rental Inspection Rules You Need to Know

Get Ready! It’s Coming!

The city is letting us know what they are proposing to city council. If this passes, these rules will go into effect after January. The city will need time, they said, to be ready to implement the changes so it won’t be immediately in January. They would like us landlords to go to city council to support these changes. The city council hearing date has yet to be announced.

From 37 Point Inspection to 15 Point Inspectoin

Acccording to the top Detroit inspector, Jamie Fry from Detroit Inspection Group, there has never been a 37-point inspection. He works on a 1,500-point inspection. I know! I spent a day with him filming how he does inspections. It’s included in my online course.

With the new 15-point inspection list, the rest of the items that could fail would result in blight tickets. Blight tickets happen when the city does a “sweep” for a certain item such as trash cans not brought in at the right time. Tickets can also happen if a tenant or a neighbor complains to the city.

No more lead risk assessment tests

The lead risk assessment test is a $450-$500 test that includes sending lead dust samples to a lab to analyze. The city inspectors will now do visual inspections for damaged paint. They will also do dust wipe samples around window sills and the floor in front of it. They are asking us to have no bare soil around the perimeter of a house where lead dust can accumulate. Instead, we are to put mulch, plant grass, or put rocks around our houses. I think they said this as a hint so we won’t be hit with failing and needing the whole LIRA test.

If there is a referral from the Health Department of a lead poisoned child, the owner will be required to have a Risk Assessment.

New Fees

Today if we have a non Section 8 property, we pay around $195 for the city inpsection, $500 for the lead test, then there’s a processing fee of around $73. Our Certificate of Compliance is good for 3 years. If we renew before the end of the second 3-year term, our Certificate of Compliance is good for 5 years.

Today if we have a Section 8 tenanted house, we simply submit the Section 8 passed test and we pay the new processing fee. Our Certificates are also good for 3 years and if renewed before the end of the second 3-year term, our Certificate is good for 5 years.

The new fee structure is proposed to be around $150 every year to the city which includes the city test. The certificates are still good for 3-5 years assuming we pay $150/year for it.

Liens on properties with unpaid tickets

We have heard this threat for years but it has never happened. Only 20% of tickets are paid. The city said it’s too easy for us not to pay them. These unpaid tickets are sent to an internal collection agency. If the court date is missed, there doesn’t seem to be any way to defend oneself from these tickets.

REPEAT OFFENDERS = MORE INSPECTIONS

There are different ways to get tickets on properties. The city does sweeps for a specific violation such as leaving out garbage cans. The tenant can also call the city on the landlord. A neighbor can also call the city on a landlord. If a landlord is a repeat offender, the city is asking for the right to do more inspections on the home.

I could see an angry tenant who doesn’t have rent money using this tactic to punish their landlord. If we feel this is happening, we are to consult with our attorney.

NEW RENT IN ESCROW REQUIREMENTS

Only 20 people every year put their rent in escrow when there are damages to their house. The city feels the requirements for tenants to put rent in escrow is too difficult.

With the new rule, the tenant will be required to notify the owner before they call the city. Right now the inspectors ask the tenants if they have even asked the owner for the repairs. It’s a common complaint of landlords that tenants call the city for retaliatory reasons (they don’t have rent that month) without giving us a chance to make the repairs.

With the new rule the city will also review the escrow accounts every 120 days to see if the home is in compliance.

If a tenant puts money in escrow due to repairs landlords have not done, with the new rule the landlord isn’t allowed to retaliate by filing for an eviction or raising the rent. The tenant meanwhile has to put rent in escrow. If the landlord files an eviction or raises the rent during the time money is held in escrow, then the landlord can be fined $650.

We already have retaliation and escrow rules in Michigan. The rule doesn’t apply to having a Certificate of Compliance though and there isn’t a $650 fine if the landlord is being retaliatory.

OUR ADVERTISING MUST STATE DETROIT RENTAL REQUIREMENTS

Requires sites advertising rental properties to include statements that rentals must register with the City and be inspected.

My Idea to Get More of Us in Compliance and Paying our Tickets

If the city would just allow us a year to clear up old unpaid tickets with a new court date where we can plea our cause to have the fees dropped in half, then I feel more landlords will comply.. I have some ridiculous tiickets on a few of my properties but I missed the court date. I would rather just leave it alone and not get my property in compliance if the city won’t work with me at all on those.