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Landlords urge council to scale back annual rental inspections; city explains changes and staffing plans
Summary
Multiple landlords told the Council that Commerce's rental-property inspection program is burdensome and inconsistent; city staff explained that changes were adopted to balance inspection frequency and life-safety coverage and said the city is adding code-enforcement staff and reviewing fees.
Several Commerce landlords used the public-comment period on Sept. 16 to criticize the city's rental-property inspection program, saying it has become overly burdensome and inconsistent. Speakers asked the council to reduce inspection frequency, limit subjective enforcement, and revisit fees.
Why it matters: The city manager told council that the inspection program was altered roughly 18 months to two years ago to respond to unique conditions in a college community, and to achieve an annual inspection baseline for properties whose utility accounts never change names. He said the change reduced repeated inspections for some landlords while increasing inspections for other properties that had gone uninspected for multiple years.
Public comments: Amir Rahman, who said he has been a landlord in Commerce for more than 30 years, criticized subjective enforcement and fees, and urged the council to focus on expense control rather than raising taxes. “Several landlords have approached me and said that this is not sustainable,” Rahman told the council during public comment. Terry Harris said annual inspections have become “very difficult and very expensive,” adding that the town lacks the local labor supply to meet current requirements. Longtime landlord Charles Yates said he had been cited for trash cleanup while he was actively using a dumpster to clear a deteriorated property.
City response: City Manager Lisenby acknowledged the complaints and outlined the reasoning for the inspection changes: in Commerce, the city said, 65% of single-family units are renter-occupied (a reversal of a common 65% owner-occupied pattern), which the city says increases life-safety risk and justifies a different inspection cadence. Lisenby said the intent of the change was to reduce inspection frequency for some landlords and to establish at least one annual inspection for properties that otherwise avoided inspection because utility accounts remained in the owner's name.
Staff actions and next steps: Lisenby said the city is converting a vacant vacant-building-inspector position into a full-time code-enforcement officer to increase inspection capacity and improve timeliness. He also explained that the city allows one reschedule without fee but can charge additional fees for repeated rescheduling that consumes disproportionate staff time. He differentiated between property-maintenance items (longer timelines, often aesthetic) and residential safety inspections tied to life-safety hazards.
Council reaction: The council did not take immediate policy action at the meeting but the city manager invited feedback and said staff will continue to review implementation logistics, fee structure and enforcement practices.
