ANAHEIM : Inspection Proposed for Rental Units

A proposal that would require annual inspections of apartments and other rental properties is being considered by the city’s Code Enforcement Department.

The program, which officials hope would rid the city of run-down and overcrowded apartment complexes, would be paid for by an $18.75-per-unit annual fee that would be imposed on landlords, according to a memo the department has sent to apartment owners seeking their response.

The proposal would have to be approved by the City Council before it could be implemented. It has not been determined when or if the council will receive the proposal.

Code enforcement manager John Poole said the proposal is in response to last year’s report by the Gang/Drug Task Force, a city-affiliated citizens’ group that blamed crime problems in part on overcrowded and dilapidated housing.

The report was particularly critical of landlords who live outside the city and allow their properties to deteriorate.

“What we want to do is make our proposal and ask the community for help in addressing the problem of absentee landlords and deferred maintenance,” Poole said.

Six new inspectors and a supervisor would be hired to conduct the program, which would cost $657,000 its first year, the memo said.

There are 41,616 rental units in the city and the city expects that 20% of owners will fail to register units, the memo said.

Under the proposal, landlords would have to register their buildings, state who is responsible for maintenance and pay the fees.

Owners of complexes with five or more units already must purchase an annual business license that costs $24 plus $5 per unit.

Inspection efforts would be aimed initially at apartments in neighborhoods that officials consider to be blighted.

Among the streets that would be targeted would be Balsam Avenue, Park Lane, Glenn Avenue, Brownwood Avenue, Westchester Drive and Temple Street, the memo said.

All rental units in those areas would be inspected. Buildings that pass an initial inspection would not have to be reinspected for at least two years, unless there was a subsequent complaint, the memo said. Yearly fees would still be paid, however.

Owners of units that fail inspection would be required to fix their properties. Those who refused could be cited and fined.

Rich Lambros, director of public affairs of the Apartment Assn. of Orange County, said his group has talked with Poole about the proposal but has not yet taken a position on it.

However, he said, the association is opposed in general to mandatory citywide inspection programs, preferring that cities target properties that have been reported as substandard.

“We do agree that the city has problem areas and we want to work with the city on those,” Lambros said, adding that a mandatory inspection program would be costly and unfair to the majority of apartment owners.

“Even if 40% of the properties in Anaheim were in violation (of city codes), that would mean that the 60% of the owners who are not a problem whatsoever would still have to pay their fees and spend time and energy undergoing this inspection,” he said.

Mayor Tom Daly said he will meet with the apartment association to talk about the objections before considering the program.

“The program is certainly worth considering,” Daly said. “There is a question of whether those property owners who have well-maintained property and are not a problem should be subjected to an overall program.”

Fullerton, Newport Beach and Santa Ana have similar programs, according to the memo.

Fullerton does not charge an inspection fee, Newport Beach charges $62 per complex regardless of the number of units, and Santa Ana charges $17.50 a unit, the memo states.