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Meeting date: June 19, 2006 p. 4 of 7 <br />Q: What is needed before the City can enter a property for an inspection? <br />A: An eyewitness account of the violation. <br /> <br />Q: Do code requirements apply in situati ons where there are subleases and boarders? <br />A: Subleases, yes. In the case of boarders, it depends on whether or not the property owner lives <br />in the house. <br /> <br />Program Cost Considerations <br />Q: If enacted, what would be the cost? <br />A: Cathy Bennett would have more specific cost es timate. Don believes that 50% of the cost of <br />the program would be covered by licensing f ees and 50% would be covered by the City. <br /> <br />Q: How much does the City have to pay for an inspection? <br />A: House inspections typically run $180 to $200. This might go down if the city contracts for a <br />large number of inspections. <br />Observation: If the City contracts out its in spection work, code enforcement staff would have <br />more time to address car enforcement issues. <br /> <br />Q: Can the Fire Department help with insp ections? Can they be done for free by the Fire <br />Department? <br />A: Probably not. St. Paul had a program for free inspections by Fire Dept. inspectors. No one <br />wanted to use the program for f ear it might draw attention to them as a problem property. Fire <br />inspectors are trained to l ook for dangerous situations. <br /> <br />Q: How would the licensing program impact staff time? <br />A: Contract inspections would fr ee up 20% of staff time at first; it would likely shift to 10% or <br />15% once the program is up and running. Staff anticipate that the vast majority of people will <br />comply with program requirements. <br /> <br />Q: Will rents be increased? <br />A: Maybe, especially if the program forces landlords to make necessary improvements. <br /> <br />Protection of Rights <br />Q: Would renter’s privacy rights be violated through the inspection process? <br />A: No <br /> <br />Q: Are violations or possible violations public information? <br />A: Yes. The City could inform Northwestern College about student-related complaints and seek <br />their assistance in responding to pr oblems, especially overcrowding. <br /> <br />Education <br />Q: Are landlords telling student s about restrictions of the number of unrelated adults living <br />together? <br />A: Most people seem unaware of this code restriction. <br />Observation: It seems that an education pr ogram goes hand-in-hand with a licensing program.