Way to oppose city's overreach?

[Sharon R.]

How can you bypass/ avoid (legally!) an older  o r .d i n. a n. c e (2018) imposed by the city (not Atlanta) but still in Fulton county that demands MF to pay an inspection every time before a new tenant enters their apartment?
Not only that but you also need to pay them as owner  $50-$80 each time and if you don't pass with 90% then you need to pay again. 

Forget the money for a second, it feels like a total harassment especially when most of those apartments were inspected when renovated in the last year. 

Was it even constitutional to create such an ordinance? It feels like a blunt bureaucracy overreach with sole intention of money grafting. 
it's only done to multi family properties while I'm sure they were very much aware that the amount (if paid each time to the city) will ultimately be rolled over to the tenants...) 

We can add to that a 'business & privacy invasion', if it's your property and it had passed an inspection after renovation, why do you feel that the tenants cannot decide if they want to rent an apartment which is basically a business deal  we should have nothing to do with the city.  Pushing them self into that deal is nothing more than harassment. This is like a bakery owner, who has a yearly inspection for health certificate, and then the city coming to a bakery and insisting to inspect the place every morning before customers come in. I mean, what's the difference?  

In both cases, they are "concerned" with the customer being served rightfully, no?

Which brought me to ask another question- what is the legal definition of a private property? I'm interested to know 
it for more than just this specific city issue. 

I would somehow accept it if it was a request to do an inspection every three years, to make sure that the condition the tenant is given makes sense. But I believe this is about gentrifying the area and getting more money to the city budget. 

This is a two stories (low rise) multi family under 30 units. 

For those legal professionals who are knowledgeable and kind enough to ponder on this issue I'd like to state that I'm not interested in starting a dialogue with the city about it, but searching a legal stand to oppose it, finding a good one might also mean initiating a legal sue. 

I would also like to state that it was only lately sent by the city, after a year of flipping this mini piece of sh#% property that all the neighbors around it (with really beautiful expensive houses) have suffered for a very long while from it, for being crazy neglected having 3 drug dealers living on the property ... 7 non paying tenants and poor looking place in general... so they waited a year seeing how I cleaned it up, renovated the apartments and beautified it in general. 

Thanks in advance to those who answers. 

[Azeez K.]

Hi @Sharon R.

Firstly, I am sorry that you are going through this annoying situation. I have experience with several MF properties here in Atlanta (Fulton) included and never heard of this inspection you state. Unless the property is subject to LURA (Land Use Restrictive Agreement) or your tenant is using AHA (Atlanta Housing Authority) or Section 8 voucher. 

If its LURA property then you have to unfortunately comply with inspections as stated in the LURA agreement. You need to read the fine print if there are any restrictive covenants etc. If it's section 8 then they typically do an inspection at the start and there is a video here https://www.atlantahousing.org... that explains this process. I feel your pain trust me as there is a lot of unnecessary bureaucratic red tape in the city so much so that I no longer feel like dealing with Fulton/Dekalb counties because of the harassment mentality and poor management of resources.  

Firstly I would do is to figure out the exact ordinance in question. You can find list of Fulton county ordinances here https://library.municode.com/g... under section 14 

Once you are able to find the ordinance then read through the same thing cuz it may clear some doubt or cause additional ambiguity 

I would then contact an attorney to draft an email to the city if you feel that you are being charged unreasonably. I did this step for the Atlanta Watershed as they were trying to force us as the owners in paying tenant's water bill. Let me tell you once the attorney sent an email and said this is against the law I never heard anything back.  Hope this provides some direction and wish you best of luck dealing with the city (you will need it). Good luck keep me posted as I am curious to see what the end resolution ends up.