Top 8 Things to Make Rental Inspections Less Painful in Michigan

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Top 8 Things to Make Rental Inspections Less Painful in Michigan

Unless your rentals are in an area that doesn’t certify properties, we all face a rental inspection at some point. Experienced rental property owners have learned—sometimes the hard way—what to do and not do. Here are eight recommended ways of avoiding inspection hassles, fines and penalties:

• Introduce yourself to the city inspection team and make nice. Don’t wait for your first inspection to meet those responsible for making or breaking your investment. Go down to city hall and introduce yourself and let them know you want to do the right thing when it comes to your rentals. Offer them your contact info and encourage them to call you if a complaint ever comes in for one of your units. Relationships are everything. We frequently hear landlords say: “I never have an issue with the city.” I’m guessing these aren’t perfect owners that own perfect properties—but they have likely built up good relations with the city staff.

• Don’t wait for the city to contact you to do the inspection. Keep track of when inspections are due and call the city in advance to schedule the inspection before the current certification is up. Some cities will notify you, but it’s a good practice to be proactive. Fines and penalties can mount up by missing the date. And, most communities will issue the new certificate from the date the last one expired—not the date that they pass the unit. The perfect time for an inspection is between tenants. If the timing is right, ask if you can have your inspection done as soon as your rental is ready before the next tenant moves in. You may lose a couple months on the length of a cert, but the financial savings can be huge.

• Know the code and do a self-inspection first. If you don’t own a copy of the local property maintenance code that your municipality uses to guide them in their inspection, you should. Most communities use some version of the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC). Some will add additional items. Make sure you have the version that your city uses along with the additions. Keep in mind they may have their own code in lieu of the IPMC. If you’re unsure about how they might enforce a particular item, contact the city in advance to find out their take on it. Once you have the codes, go through your units and make repairs or upgrades as necessary before the inspection takes place. If you believe upgrades may be necessary (e.g. electrical service), you should plan in advance to have those things completed since it may take some time. The other repairs should be done as close to the inspection date as possible just in case your tenant’s negligence undoes your good work before the inspection. You may also have to have the tenant remove boxes, trash, etc. to meet egress requirements. The interior and exterior of the property may need a thorough clean up too. Get rid of weeds, tall grass, paint chips, garbage, etc. Make sure your tenant does those things in advance. And, don’t forget to check the light bulbs and batteries. (Yes, we all know the tenants are responsible for a lot of this after they move in--including light bulbs—but the city will not care.) And, you’ll need a trash receptacle on site to prove refuse removal service is in place. How the property “looks” will influence how diligent the inspector is.

• Be nice. Believe it or not, inspectors are real people with feelings and emotions. (I know—hard to believe sometimes.) Getting on an inspector’s bad side right out of the gate is a sure fire way of getting unwanted inspection results. Worse yet, if over time you anger all the inspectors, you’ll likely have the whole city on your back. People within the city talk and, if you have a bad reputation, you shouldn’t be surprised if you ever call and complain to a city commissioner about something and they respond with something like “I hear you don’t take care of your rental properties.” Just keep in mind that the inspector is trying to have a good day too. Side note: Believe me—the city staffers carry the list of “bad landlords” around in their heads.

• Be prepared to make repairs immediately. Bring along your maintenance person or other handyperson to make repairs as the inspector points them out. A lot of times there are small things that can be fixed immediately, e.g. loose handles and railings, burnt out bulbs, faulty smoke detectors, dripping faucets, running toilets, loose toilet seats, etc. Depending on the city, if you make a commitment to fix something that same day or week--even if it requires more work—you may be able to get a verbal order instead of a written notice of violation. If your city has a policy of giving verbal orders, ask for those instead of a written NOV. Typically they won’t charge for verbal orders but do for NOV’s.

• Don’t respond with anger when the inspector finds something wrong. Any inspector can make mistakes in applying the code. A lot of things are subjective, too. Check out the wording in the code. You’ll find something like this stated regularly: all items must be working as intended and in good repair. This leaves room for a lot of interpretation—on your part and the inspectors. You may also find new inspectors are more “thorough” than experienced ones. So, what to do? First, talk to the inspector and say you’re confused because your reading of the code gives you a different impression. Ask them to show you the text from the part of the code they are citing and tell you how they interpreted it. If it quickly appears you’re not going to get anywhere with the inspector, try not to get angry and, instead, contact their supervisor and see if you can reason with them. In some communities, there may be an overall department administrator that makes the last call on such items before it must go to a formal appeal’s board. This is typically called an “administrative appeal.”

• Don’t wait to appeal (or reconsider appealing). If it looks like you’re going to get nowhere with the inspectors and other staffers, you might need to appeal to the higher authorities, usually an appeal’s board of some sort. BUT, experienced rental property owners will tell you, unless you’re absolutely certain you are correct and the cost to do whatever the city is expecting is prohibitive, it’s best to avoid filing an appeal. It ruffles a bunch of feathers, and it cost money. Biting the bullet, grinning and bearing it can sometimes be a better long-term strategy (defined as better future relations with the department). There will be times though that an appeal is the right thing to do. Just use good judgment when making the decision to appeal. (Just don’t do it out of anger.) If you’re going to appeal, don’t wait. There will be a deadline on the NOV for an appeal date—you don’t want to miss it.

• Don’t try flying below the radar. Flying below the radar—otherwise known as trying to be invisible and hoping the city never finds out your property is a rental—can ultimately be an expensive gamble. Fines and fees mount up quickly for missing registrations, inspections and for violations. And, if the city finds you’ve been trying to hide, they’ll likely throw the book at you and fine and fee you to death. (Or, in even take you to court for a misdemeanor offence.) Some communities charge larger fees for certs that are expired. In some cases, cities offer various lengths of certificates—depending on the circumstances. For instance, in the City of Grand Rapids, you can get a 6-year cert if everything is good, no written NOV and all taxes, etc. are paid. But, if you’re trying to hide and push all the wrong buttons and your unit is in disrepair, you’ll likely end up with a 2-year cert and have to start the process all over again two years later. No fun.

Now--go have fun!  Thanks for reading.