Rental Inspections (City)

[David Roberts]

I'm looking at buying a home in Brownstown Township.  I have 1 rental that was my primary and converted into a rental when I moved in December 2010.  Apparently Woodhaven instituted a certificate of occupancy in April 2010, but I only realized this, this week after looking up local city websites.

I see that Brownstown requires a rental to be registered in 30 days, followed by a rental inspection (180 bucks).  

I have no experience with these inspections.  They have a 15-page checklist on the website, very thorough, looks as thorough as a home inspector would be to me.  This particular home I know I'm going  to run into some kind of problem because the basement is mostly finished, but even I know it's not to code just from what I can SEE (let alone vapor barriers and whatever).  Ther'es a sectioned off room with door, no egress, so I know I would catch flack on that if the inspector is paying attention.  Also, near where the laundry area is, they put a toilet over the cleanout and built a separate walkin shower right next to it.  It's not a 'bathroom', more like a toilet, with a walk in shower.  There is a wall with door that closes over that area (toilet, walkin shower, dryer/washer, furnace, etc, but the 'bathroom' isn't sectioned from the furnace and dryer/washer.  I have no idea what an inspector would say about that one.

The house was build in 1976 and has no GFI's or anything.  That stuff i would need to install, probbaly a coupole more smoke alarms also, but not worried about that.  Everything else looks mostly ok, but that basement scares me.

Codes change alot, and so I don't know how it is expected to have every home up to the latest and greatest.  Safety stuff, sure, but buildings were built differently through the decades.

It looks like I could be tied up for 30 days minimum to get the first inspection, and then fix whatever else, but if they tell me I have to gut the basement or something, that would be a nightmare.  The website also says they require an inspection every 3 years.  

I'm starting to think it's simpler to just lend out my pile of cash lol.

I can't imagine what some people go through with homes build 1950 or earlier, 1900!

I guess, if anyone knows the area, how anal are they?  Do they even audit records?  Woodhaven has never contacted me about my rental and I non-homesteaded it 4 years ago, so they're aware I'd asume, that it's a rental.  But this other I'm interested in is in Brownstown, different entity.

[Michael Seeker]

Hey @David Roberts - I'd recommend calling somebody at the office or better yet, going in and talking to them about it.  Let them know what you're seeing and ask how they'd handle it.  Folks in that line of work are generally very helpful if you ask nicely.  If you plan on buying ANYTHING in the area it sounds like you ought to try and get on their good side early on.

Once you know what you're dealing with, make sure to build that into the price of any property you buy!