News-Record.com

Just as the Greensboro's aggressive rental unit inspection ordinance is about to kick into full effect, the city is contemplating scaling it back.

And now local housing advocates are lining up with their own plans to revamp the inspections program.

Greensboro's 2003 ordinance -- which was protested by the real estate industry -- requires all rental property to be inspected and certified by the end of this year. The certificates are good for five years. Landlords who rent properties without a certificate after Jan. 1 can be fined.

City Inspections and Engineering Director Butch Simmons, who advocated for the program and its proactive inspections years ago, wants to amend the ordinance.

He recommends Thursday that the certificates be perpetual, unless there is a verified violation on a property. That change to the law would diminish the number of properties inspected by city staff, which Simmons said would allow them to focus on bad properties.

"It boils down to what is the best use of your staff," Simmons told the Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy (RUCO) board, an advisory group.

The board backed Simmons' recommendation, but other groups aren't sure it is the right move.
The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress, a non-profit consortium of community groups, voted in mid-September to support re-inspecting 10 percent of units previously inspected.

Next week the Greensboro Human Relations Commission will discuss a proposal by its housing committee that would allow the automatic renewal of certificates, but require yearly inspections for properties with violations and fines for non-compliant landlords. (Read proposal here.)

Donna Newton, spokeswoman for the Neighborhood Congress, said if Simmons' recommendations stick, the congress and other groups might go to the City Council with their own suggestions.

Representatives from all the committees will meet again later this month to try to work out disagreements. Stay tuned.