Cape Girardeau City Council looks at rental inspection program

A cursory drive-by of Cape Girardeau's 6,000 or so residential rental units by city inspectors has revealed at least 86 cases where landlords are failing to meet even the most minimum of property standards.

And those are just the ones that can be seen from the outside.

"If you have one house on the block that is becoming dilapidated and run down, it hurts the value of every home on that block," said assistant city manger Ken Eftink, who oversees the city's department of development services.

Monday night, Eftink recommended to the Cape Girardeau City Council that a new rental inspection program be implemented that would require landlords to pay for annual licenses and subject their properties to inspections every three years.

The program would cost about $100,000 each year, according to city estimates, but an annual $15 to $20 licensing fee paid by the landlords would fully cover the cost of the program, Eftink said.

One way the fee could be collected, he said, is adding it to utility bills. The money would be needed to add two new full-time employees to perform the 2,000 yearly inspections along with existing staff, he said. Other costs would include buying vehicles, equipment and providing office space.

"Our overall goal is to protect property values in our neighborhood," Eftink said in an interview before the council meeting. "We want to look at the city one block at a time. If there is a house in poor condition, we want to work with the owner to get it repaired and secure."

At the meeting, council members met the proposal with varying degrees of support.

"It can't happen too soon as far as I'm concerned," said council member Loretta Schneider. "We've been talking about it for 30 years. ... It sounds like a good program."

Council member Mark Lanzotti, however, cautioned that there would be "significant push back," from Cape Girardeau landlords, which a preliminary city count placed around 180.

Lanzotti suggested adding an incentive, such as giving "gold-star" certification to landlords who go a certain amount of time without violations, which they could use to market their properties. Another suggestion was that a gold-star recipient could possibly forego inspections for a time, unless there was a complaint.

Council member John Voss said it was important that the program pay for itself and that he doesn't want it to be another layer of government.

The council directed city staff to meet with landlords, possibly at a public hearing or open house, to hear concerns and make modifications before reporting back.

The property maintenance code, commonly called the minimum property standards, requires that a property's exterior be maintained in a clean, safe and sanitary condition. Broken windows are not allowed, roofs must be free of holes and deteriorated shingles and yards must be maintained, among other requirements.

The interior must have safe floors, stairways, structurally sound walls, working electrical systems and plumbing, and clean and sanitary sanitation.

"We would be looking at minimum standards for life safety," Eftink said. "Is there electricity to the house? Is there wiring, plumbing, leaks somewhere? Is the property properly vented? Is there working heating and air conditioning systems? Are the floors sound? Those are the kind of things we'd be looking for."

Under the current system, responses are based on complaints. But Eftink knows there are concerns that some renters may be reticent to complain for fear of eviction or jacked-up rents.

Under the proposal, failure for the landlord to comply would result in a citation being issued and the owner taken to municipal court, Eftink said. In a memo he prepared for the council meeting, Eftink said, "while this sounds like a simple process, getting compliance has been met with much resistance."

Cape Girardeau landlords contacted by the Southeast Missourian Monday were divided in their support for the program.

Thomas M. Meyer, owner of Exit Realty/Thomas Meyer Associates, manages about 50 rental units in Cape Girardeau. He sees the program as another unnecessary layer of government oversight.

"I'd be a bit insulted for the fact that they wouldn't trust my management of my own property," Meyer said. "It's supply and demand. If I don't supply an adequate dwelling, I'm not going to get tenant interest. I think they should continue to address it on a case-by-case basis."

But Rick Hetzel, who has about 40 single-family rental homes and two apartment buildings, said he's all for the program. Hetzel, the city's former police chief, said being a landlord is a business that should be regulated.

"I think it's really about time that the city or someone started looking at the condition of rental properties in our community," he said. "Quite frankly, a landlord that operates a business and gets money should not a have a problem with this, something that would protect the safety of their renters."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

401 Independence, Cape Girardeau, MO