Memorandum
City of Lawrence
Planning & Development Services
TO:
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David L. Corliss, City
Manager
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FROM:
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Planning and Development
Services Staff
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Date:
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January 9, 2014
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RE:
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Rental Expansion
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At the December 17, 2013 City Commission meeting, the Commission directed
staff to draft an ordinance to expand the current licensing and inspection
program that would include the code authority of Draft 1 and many of the other
elements of Draft 2. The following is provided
for the Commission’s consideration:
1. Ordinance
8840 (Draft 3)
2. Draft Revised Administrative
Regulations, including the following appendices to the regulations:
a. Draft Rental License Application
b. Draft Rental License
c. Draft Inspection
Form/Checklist Reflecting Ordinance 8840 Draft 3
d. Draft Consent for Inspection
Form
e. Draft
educational information
The following further explains the attachments noted above:
Ordinance 8840 (Draft 3)
- This ordinance reflects direction to
inspect against the International Property Maintenance Code and Land
Development Code.
- It maintains the following elements
from Draft 2:
- Revising the recitals/purpose of the
program.
- Requiring that inspectors be
certified to perform their duties.
- Proposing a new definition for
“Qualified Vacant Unit” and setting a policy to inspect such units as a
priority of the inspection process.
- Incorporating the license application,
inspection checklist, and consent form as attachments to the
Administrative Regulations that the governing body promulgates.
- Adding a requirement for staff to
present specific evidence when alleging fraud or misrepresentation of a
license application.
- Re-inserting the 15-unit cap on the
number of units to inspect owned by a licensee.
- Requiring at least 72 hours of notice
to enter with consent or with the granting of an administrative search
warrant.
- Providing authorization for staff to
accept alternative means of satisfying the code requirements where it may
be technically difficult to otherwise to comply.
- Clarifying responsibility for
adhering to occupancy limits.
- Clarifying elements of the appeal and
revocation process.
- Establishing an educational element,
new since the Draft 2 version, requiring the city’s contact information to
be provided to tenants so that tenants are educated on when and who to
call if the property is not being adequately maintained.
Administrative Regulations
- The Administrative Regulations have
been revised to reflect the proposed ordinance changes included in Draft 3
and to incorporate the appendices as required of the ordinance.
Forms
- Application – A draft application is
provided that captures owner and property information in order to issue
the license. Per previous City
Commission direction related to the RS-based program, the application
requires a landlord to acknowledge the occupancy limits and inform their
tenants of such. Staff provides a
form as part of the application process for landlords’ use to complete
this aspect of the program. The
form has been revised to account for the congregate living use, which
varies with site plan approval.
- Rental License – This is the document
that will be provided to the licensee.
- Inspection Form/Checklist – The
inspection checklist is useful in several ways: it provides notice to
landlords and tenants of the list of possible code violations, it aids the
inspectors in identifying potential code violations, and it serves as the
official notice of violation to the landlord or tenant if a violation
exists. The checklist associated with Ordinance 8840 Draft 3 has been
revised to cover a few more of the code standards of the Property
Maintenance Code and to clarify when certain standards would be minor and
major.
- Consent form – A draft consent form is
provided to reflect the city’s request of tenants to provide written
consent to allow entry to complete any inspections. This form will be requested as each
inspection of a unit is scheduled.
- Educational Notice – The Commission
directed staff to establish a consistent method for informing tenants of
their opportunity to contact the city if minimum housing standards are not
met. While a placard affixed in a
conspicuous way inside the unit was discussed, staff believes that this effort
can be implemented through means that do not cause intrusion into the
unit’s interior. Staff proposes
that a mailing from the city occur each September to every dwelling unit
that includes a link to web-based information related to the rental
licensing program, including contact information if a tenant wishes to request
an inspection. The substance of the web-based information is included in
Appendix E of the Administrative Regulations.
Other Issues
At the December 17, 2013 City Commission meeting, information was
requested on the issues below.
- Measuring performance – from staff’s
perspective, the program is successful if the housing stock in Lawrence is
being maintained to minimum levels.
With this in mind, the following will be considered useful data by
which to gauge the program’s efficacy:
- Number of units licensed per year.
- Number of initial unit inspections
per year.
- Number of follow-up inspections per
year.
- Number of violations found in total
and average number of violations per unit.
- Total number of major violations
found.
- Total number of minor violations
found.
- Number of violations corrected.
- Number of violations not corrected
and therefore needed to be litigated.
- Number of tenant and/or neighbor
complaints received outside of required program inspections.
- Number (or percentage) of required
program dwelling unit inspections for which inspection consent was not
voluntarily obtained.
- Written policies and procedures – Ordinance
8840 and the Administrative Regulations contain the primary substance of
the program – license and inspection schedules, notice requirements, fees,
etc.; however, a manual that outlines more detailed policies and
procedures will need to be created subsequent to adoption to address the
myriad of implementation details and to help train inspection and
administrative staff. This is a
document that will need to be flexible as staff and the landlords fine
tune the practices over time.
- Reporting to the Commission and public
– Staff intends to submit regular reports to the Commission on the program
outcomes, including an annual report on the budget aspect of the program
to maintain the program in a way where fees pay for the service rendered.
- Staffing and cost of program – It has
been reported in previous memos that Staff calculates that three new
inspectors and two administrative assistants will be required to implement
the program expansion at a total cost of the program of approximately $385,000,
though expenses for the five new personnel will be approximately $335,000. In the 2014 budget, $385,000 was
approved in order to reflect the total cost of the program, though Staff
believes the actual expenditures for the first year will not exceed
$335,000. The substantive changes
in the program since calculating the staffing levels and costs of the
program include revising the sample size from individual properties to
owners, creating a tiered system for the licensing fee, lowering the
threshold for a unit to reach the incentive, and extending the inspection
cycle for the incentive from 5 to 6 years.
While these changes do lower the assumed projected income for the
program, the reduction will not be fully known until all units are
licensed and a few years of inspections occur. Staff recommends adopting
the ordinance with the proposed fee schedule and including the budget
implications of the program in the periodic reports to the commission.
Action Requested
Approve Ordinance No. 8840, if appropriate.