Senate Bill 1507 Housing Conditions/Inspections would limit a municipality’s authority to address dangerous or unsafe structures by imposing a probable cause standard to inspect for unsafe, unsanitary, or otherwise hazardous conditions in residential buildings.
The bill is likely scheduled for a floor vote as early as Tuesday.
The new law would require a city to have probable cause before inspecting residential structures. In addition, it gives a landlord a “reasonable” time to correct unsafe conditions.
The bill, if passed into law, would effectively negate the City of Henderson’s efforts to pass an effective Certificate of Occupancy Ordinance. Under the proposed ordinance, the City would require that a certificate be acquired each time a property was leased by a new tenant by means of a minimal safety housing inspection. The ordinance would also allow the City to establish targeted enforcement zones along major travel corridors or the Weed & Seed area where inspections would be carried out.
It also states that a landlord may recover from the tenant the actual and reasonable costs of the work to correct imminently dangerous conditions that were the fault of the tenant.
Unsafe wiring, unsafe floors or steps, unsafe ceiling or roofs, unsafe chimneys or flues are some of the “imminently dangerous conditions” described in the bill.
The bill also removes the provision for a municipality to cause a dwelling that has not been repaired, altered, or improved to be vacated and closed.
The North Carolina League of Municipalities has stated its opposition to the bill.
The bill is the North Carolina Senate companion bill of House Bill 1011. It is sponsored by Senator Julia Boseman of New Hanover County.