City: Notice of Rental Inspection

[Eli]

I was made aware of this lovely correspondence from my city today.

To me:

To tenants:

What in the fucking what? Where in the hell is the checkbox for "I think this is a blatant invasion of privacy, and if you step onto my property without a search warrant, I WILL press trespass charges."?

http://greshamoregon.gov/rentalhousing/

The City conducts random mandatory inspections throughout the year on residential rental properties within Gresham.

ORLY?

I'm pretty damn liberal, but this is absolutely infuriating. I've always rented until fairly recently in my life, and always had to deal with landlord inspections and other such blatant invasions of privacy. I bought my own house(s) so I wouldn't have to deal with that kind of bullshit anymore! (I get to dish it) Further, I know what shitty landlords are like. I'm going to be the best fucking landlord ever... No government oversight needed.

This must be fairly new, as all of the landlord inspections I've been involved with prior had absolutely nothing to do with the city, just the landlord checking on their stuff. The city has no right to randomly peer into my homes.

My tenants don't want to have anything to do with this nonsense either. They just moved in!

Now I have to call my attorney to figure out my rights and fight against my own city wanting to do an "inspection"? OMFG. Did not see that one coming.

The funny thing is that I'd be fine if this was a program that I could sign up with to invite them in and show them how awesome a landlord I am, to earn "awards". But to be forced against my will to comply with "inspections" when no evidence of any wrongdoing exists? Wow, I mean maybe the folks saying our rights are being stripped away left and right are correct...

From what I'm reading there's probably not much hope, they'll just eventually levy fines against the property if I refuse them forever. Ugh.

/moves to Texas lol

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that's some freaking BS. Probably to check for stuff you may not have gotten a permit for or other crap like that, it's all a money grab.

 

[Eli]

But I just bought the property a few months ago, and paid good money for REAL home inspections. All permits etc, etc, etc check out fine.

This... this is just insanity.

 

[BoomerD]

Fucking slumlord...

Those kinds of landlords are the ones that brought this shit on...and honest landlords have to suffer because of their actions.

Live with it...or get out of the rental biz.

 

[Eli]

Fucking slumlord...

Those kinds of landlords are the ones that brought this shit on...and honest landlords have to suffer because of their actions.

Live with it...or get out of the rental biz.

But this isn't the appropriate way to deal with that! Inspections or you're fined? I thought this was the land of the free, innocent until proven guilty and all that. It would be easy to bolster tenant law if they wanted to... This is to find drug labs and shit like that, IMO.

But yeah, I guess I meant to ask other landlords whether this is actually the norm, or just some crazy Oregon thing...

It's gotta be pretty new though, I've never heard of anything even remotely close to such a thing and like I said I've rented in this area basically my entire life.

FWIW, the city of Portland does not do this. A complaint has to be lodged before any action is generated, and that's the way it should be. Gresham is just a little suburb of Portland. And you can best be damn sure I won't be buying anymore properties under their jurisdiction!

 

[BoomerD]

https://multco.us/file/9038/download

http://greshamoregon.gov/rentalhousing/

 

[Eli]

http://ij.org/action-post/does-the-...s-a-primer-on-warrantless-rental-inspections/

Man, I don't have the time/money to take on a city. But they are very, very obviously in the wrong. It sure would be fun to win.

I'll just dump the property, and buy in cities without such ludicrous invasions of privacy. Gresham is on my shitlist now. D: I grew up there, but that's just unbelievable.

Probably have to deal with this BS for a couple of years before it will be worth it to sell anyway though.

 

[lxskllr]

Vote Libertarian in the upcoming election. Even if you agree slums are bad, it's up to the individual to decide if renting a particular property is a good value.

 

[ViRGE]

http://ij.org/action-post/does-the-...s-a-primer-on-warrantless-rental-inspections/

Man, I don't have the time/money to take on a city. But they are very, very obviously in the wrong. It sure would be fun to win.

Not to invoke "nothing to hide", but I'm assuming you're up to code. So wouldn't it be a lot easier and less aggravating to just let them do it?

 

[Newbian]

Welcome to the great world of being a landlord.

Now make sure you remove the illegal power and water hookups you have in the place and it will be fine.

 

[K1052]

I'd generally rather have inspections triggered by tenant complaints but that also can be abused and seems to be less effective in general at righting bad situations.

If I still owned rentals I'd actually be ok with this assuming it was truly random and no single property was inspected more than once every few years. Everything I did was above board and to code but I know there are 10 other people who aren't for every one like me.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Fucking slumlord...

Those kinds of landlords are the ones that brought this shit on...and honest landlords have to suffer because of their actions.

Live with it...or get out of the rental biz.

When I was a child and living a much, much lower standard of living (think lower third class), it was not uncommon to be experiencing the 'slum lord' life.

As such, I do not find what is taking place all that bad. While I did not read the entire contents of the letter (post image bigger so we older fucks can find it easier to read), I have zero problem as a renter (if I were one) with the city getting on my slum lord's ass.

 

[AMCRambler]

I'm pretty damn liberal, but this is absolutely infuriating.

Hehe. Finally starting to see it. We are letting these assholes do this to us. Liberals all want to be safe and taken care of and not offended living in little safety bubbles. So they vote in democrat politicians that do just that. We are giving them WAY too much power over us. Glad you are waking up.

Get your attorney and do something about it. If you roll over and let them do it, nothing will change. Next week they'll be inspecting everyone's homes. Why would they want to do that you say? Tax assessments. They'd love to raise the value of your house because you just put in a new kitchen so they can take more money from you. Can't do that without getting inside your house. I'm sure that's what's behind all this "inspection" bullshit too. Fight it and fight it hard. Does not sound legal to me. Even better find a bunch of other landlords and fight it together.

 

[IronWing]

Good to hear that there is a city out there that has a mechanism to rein in the slumlords and actually uses it.

 

[olds]

http://politichicks.com/2016/06/epi...ept-of-fish-wildlife-requests-access-to-land/

 

[zinfamous]

Retaliation from the city/sheriff/bank for fighting that bogus auction of this property of yours that cost them a decent chunk of change?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

There are at least two sides to every position. Try Arizona where landlords can do anything they please and have the tacit backing of the courts. There was a recent case of a fire in an apartment building that put thirty families out on the street. The kicker? Half the apartments didn't have running water or working toilets. This had been going on for THREE YEARS with the tenants complaining to the city the whole time. If the fire department hadn't condemned the property, the landlord would still be doing business as usual.

 

[TwiceOver]

Hrm. On one hand you are operating a business and such I think there should be some mechanism for maintaining the property standards of such business. On the other hand, "fuck off" that's what tenants rights are for.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Good to hear that there is a city out there that has a mechanism to rein in the slumlords and actually uses it.

This.

Some smaller towns have mandatory inspections and licensing of ALL rental properties.

 

[twinrider1]

Sounds nuts to me at first, but look at other businesses. Restaurants get inspected every year. OSHA can visit factories.

 

[destrekor]

Hrm. On one hand you are operating a business and such I think there should be some mechanism for maintaining the property standards of such business. On the other hand, "fuck off" that's what tenants rights are for.

It's a tough call, and a very fine line.

City inspections of property dealing with consumers is nothing all that new. You want random inspections for food, right? Inspecting rental property in the same fashion, if truly random, can help possibly weed out slum lords or even potential slum lords (property is just beginning to fall apart and landlord gives no fucks), even when the tenants also give no fucks. Some tenants are more forgiving of BS than others, so if a random inspection catches something before a complaint, that's kind of a win/win for all potential tenants.


As a tenant, I'm not sure I'd really mind that much. And both tenants and owners should be aware of property rules and rights before agreeing to rent. That's the one pain in the ass - it's virtually impossible to keep up with the varying codes in all the jurisdictions in your area.


I can see how one could find this despicable, but I can also see how one would find it a fair and good idea.

 

[destrekor]

Sounds nuts to me at first, but look at other businesses. Restaurants get inspected every year. OSHA can visit factories.

Yup, think of this as a household-variant of OSHA. As a business owner, government might want to do random inspections to ensure you aren't putting at risk the safety of tenants.

 

[Schmide]

Sounds to me like someone is hiding a gimp dungeon.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Wow that's some freaking BS. Probably to check for stuff you may not have gotten a permit for or other crap like that, it's all a money grab.

My thoughts exactly. Sounds like a typical state audit for any corporation... Just looking for loose pocket change.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Not to invoke "nothing to hide", but I'm assuming you're up to code. So wouldn't it be a lot easier and less aggravating to just let them do it?

That's the spirit, bend over to the official butt-fucking of your rights. Just like the ol' story of a cop pulls you over - If you refuse a search, refuse to blow, etc... you MUST have something to hide and are GUILTY.

People like you are the downfall of this country for being so stupid about something so important (your rights).