What Landlords Need to Know about the Raleigh, North Carolina Housing

A good landlord and a professional property management agency needs to not only care for their tenants but also comply with the city and state’s housing codes as it relates to rental properties. This article will review the Housing Codes for North Carolina and the related ordinances from the City of Raleigh. We are looking for what a landlord must know about maintaining the condition of the rental property and complying with any ordinances that would apply to rental properties.

Summary of the North Carolina Housing Code

According to the North Carolina Housing Code as of July 2008, “The State of North Carolina does not have a comprehensive property maintenance code. The state’s Landlord and Tenant law (Chapter 42), however, imposes minimum generic maintenance obligations for rental property. Also, state law (Chapter 160A) empowers localities to adopt and enforce ordinances for dwellings that are “unfit for human habitation” due to conditions that render dwellings “unsafe” to residents.”

Basically, landlords must do the following:

• Comply with applicable building and housing codes.
• Keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition.
• Keep all common areas in a safe condition.
• Provide and install smoke detectors that meet the specifications in the law.

The first three are basic common sense items. It is good to remember, however, that landlords – not the tenants – are responsible for the installation and maintenance of all smoke detectors. The smoke detectors maybe either battery-operated or electrical. The landlord must retain proof that the smoke detector complies with the National Fire Protection Association guidelines. Every time a new tenant takes possession of a unit, new batteries should be installed. In the event that the tenant reports a problem with the smoke detector, the landlord or their agent has 15 days to replace or repair the unit.

• If the landlord is charging for water service and knows that the water supply exceeds a maximum contaminant level, they must provide notice to the tenant.

If you want more information on this, please refer to Article 10 of Chapter 130A of the General Statutes. If you suspect there is a problem with the sanitary condition of the water, you should have it tested.

It is the natural tendency for a landlord to “discourage” non-paying tenants from staying in their rental units by turning off the utilities. Please keep this statue in mind:

• “The landlord may not disconnect or terminate the tenant’s water or sewer services due to the tenant’s nonpayment of the amount due for water or sewer services.”

Summary of the City of Raleigh Building Code

Before a unit can be rented within the Corporate Limits of the City of Raleigh, the property must be registered annually.

• The Housing Code for North Carolina obliges all cities to require that every dwelling unit have, at a minimum, a central or permanent electric heating system with sufficient ventilation to heat at least one habitable room, excluding the kitchen.
• A dwelling unit, which must include facilities for cooking, sleeping and a toilet, can only be occupied by one family.

This last statement can by handy if you find that your tenant is creating a group home environment by letting all his distant relatives, drinking buddies or long-lost friends share the rent. Since this is a standard set by the City, you are simply enforcing an ordinance.

• If you are considering building more rental units on your property, you will want to make sure that the finished product does not exceed the density restrictions that are set by the Code of Ordinances.

Help Given to Landlords

If you are self-managing your investment properties and feel a little overwhelmed with all of this and the day-to-day management, the City of Raleigh has prepared a training course to help landlords enhance the quality of living on their properties. The course includes a variety of topics from legal steps to resolve a problem to rental dwelling registration ordinances and even how to prevent crime through environmental design.

If you would like to ensure that all of your properties meet or even exceed local and state requirements, consider hiring a property management company. They work hard to stay on top of all related ordinances and make sure that they protect the financial investments of their clients.