Landlords Hear Latest On Administrative Changes

Andrew Jensen addresses changes to administrative rules for the Oskaloosa rental inspection program.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – A full meeting room on the third floor of the library was an indication of how important the discussion was going to be.

Landlords from around Oskaloosa gathered to hear what changes had been made to the rental inspection program since its initial inception a year ago.

Andrew Jensen, Development Services Director for the City of Oskaloosa opened the informal meeting. The meeting was designed to help landlords better understand how the registration and inspection process works.

Jason Van Ausdall of Iowa Inspections, LLC was on hand to discuss the process he goes through when inspecting a residential rental property for the City of Oskaloosa.

Van Ausdall and his staff will be inspecting each property once every three years in Oskaloosa. Landlords that pass initial inspection with no noted concerns from the inspector will not need to be inspected for another four years.

Available to attendees was the Administrative Policy and a checklist for landlords to take with them.

Jensen said that the checklist is basically the same as in the past with a couple of updates on language, helping to clean up confusion on interpretation.

One of the biggest changes to the administrative policy is in regard to the registration process itself.

Previously, each rental property had to be registered every year during the month of July.

With over 1700 rental units in the city, the time and workload for both landlords and the city was proving to be burdensome. Registration has been changed to once every three years at the same time as the inspection of the property.

Once the property passes inspection, the landlord then takes the approved inspection notification to the city where they register their property and pay their fee, landlords will then receive a compliance certificate that will be good for three years.

Jensen said the city is working to get all rental properties inspected within a three-year time frame from when the program started in July of 2017.

Van Ausdall said that the inspections process is “on pace”.

One landlord asked if the inspection process was 33 percent completed. Jensen said, “Not quite. We’ll get there soon. We’re on pace to be able to do that.”

Due to how properties were initially slated for inspection, there were difficulties for landlords that don’t do their own repairs to get contractors to make those fixes. With reinspections piling up, it created some delays.

In Oskaloosa, between 33 to 40% of all properties are rental units.

Jensen said that nothing has changed with reinspections at this point. “If it’s just standard violations, you will have 60 days to get reinspected.”

When it comes to fielding complaints from tenants, Jensen said that the city has fielded a few, but it has not been a big part of the program. “If there is found to be merit, it can spark a reinspection that way.”

Jensen and Van Ausdall fielded many questions from those gathered, on a wide range of topics that landlords face, including help with how further inspections will be handled. Landlords also asked if inspectors could be of help in informing tenants about the danger of hoarding, and how that may impact their ability to stay in their home.

Also addressed was policy cleanup in defining minor and major violations. Jensen explained that very few of the major violations included some that should not have been lived in. “I think three in the city so far.”

Otherwise, everything else falls into that 60-day category.

Van Ausdall then went through several of the common minor complaints he has found during the rental inspections.

“Thank you for the work that you’ve done already. The money that you’ve spent. The effort that you put, sweat equity, in these properties. I’ve been hearing about it from council, I see it with my own eyes. You see it yourself when you’re going around town, and I tell you what, pat yourselves on the back, because it’s a lot of work,” Van Ausdall said to those gathered at the meeting.

There will be two more information meetings for those who couldn’t attend the first.

The next meeting is July 12th, and the last is July 23rd, all beginning at 6pm on the third floor at the Oskaloosa Public Library.