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Tehachapi council introduces ordinance to register rental properties, require inspections and apply modest business tax to small landlords
Summary
Council held first reading of an ordinance to codify complaint-based inspections for multifamily housing, require landlord registration and impose a $40 annual business tax on 1–3 unit residential rentals; staff said enactment is phased and complaint-driven.
The City of Tehachapi City Council on first reading introduced an ordinance that would require owners of residential rental properties to register with the city and codify complaint-driven inspection procedures for multifamily housing after a 2023 state requirement. The ordinance also would put 1–3 unit residential rental owners on the city business tax schedule by applying a $40 annual fee.
Council members heard staff say the proposed rules respond to tenant complaints about habitability — hot water, mold, roof leaks and fire damage — and to a 2023 state law cited in the staff presentation as “85 48” that requires a process for inspecting multifamily units when a violation could affect other units. Development services staff said the city’s approach would remain complaint based rather than instituting mandatory annual inspections.
Staff explained registration is intended to provide a clear local contact — owner or property manager — when inspectors need to reach someone about an urgent habitability or life-safety issue. The presentation said registration would be phased in and used primarily when staff are responding to complaints, not as an immediate enforcement sweep.
City staff told the council the proposal also includes a “good faith crime prevention” provision to encourage landlords to monitor properties and not be absentee owners; staff said the change is not a so‑called “crime‑free” clause but an expectation that owners take reasonable steps to prevent illegal activity on their property.
The ordinance would place 1–3 unit residential rentals on the business-license schedule with a $40 annual flat fee. Staff noted the municipal code already requires owners of complexes with four or more units to pay an annual business tax (currently $40 plus $5 per unit for larger complexes) and said the $40 flat fee for smaller rental properties is intended to align treatment of rental businesses with other local enterprises.
Police and code-enforcement staff described the registration and fee as a tool to identify owners quickly and address multiple properties held by a single landlord; staff said it would help close gaps caused by delays in county property-record updates. Public comments and council questions focused on scope, phased implementation, and whether the rules would apply to duplexes/triplexes on the same lot (staff said they would).
Staff recommended the council approve the ordinance’s first reading; council voted to introduce the ordinance and staff said adoption and any final action would return at a subsequent meeting. Staff told the council the change is administrative and regulatory in nature and that they had determined it is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under the general rule.
What happens next: the council introduced the ordinance by title only for first reading. Adoption, including any final amendments and formal enactment into the Tehachapi Municipal Code, will be considered at a future council meeting.
