Council work session: staff outlines narrowed focus for single-family rental inspections

North Richland Hills City Council staff presented an update on the city’s single-family rental inspection program during a March 3 work session, saying the city will narrow inspections to life-safety items, increase communication with property owners and tenants, and return a draft ordinance for formal consideration.

Stephanie Martinez, a staff presenter, summarized program history and community concerns and said the inspection program was expanded in 2012 under ordinance 31 62 to include one- to four-family structures and townhomes. "We're going to go over the program history, community concerns, program management, and our next steps," Martinez said.

Martinez told council inspectors conducted about 672 single-family rental inspections last year and that most properties passed, with "very few" reinspection requests. She said the city will “focus on the life safety items only and to facilitate tenants move in,” and that properties identified with life-safety violations would be given 14 days to comply.

Council members pressed staff on operational details. Councilmember Russ Mitchell asked whether the city is considering a list of preferred vendors and whether self-inspection by tenants could be used to reduce inspector hours. Martinez said a draft ordinance will be brought back and that the city is “definitely” encouraging voluntary self-inspections while retaining the ability for staff to perform entry inspections focused on life-safety items such as working doors, operable windows and smoke alarms.

Other council members suggested targeting inspector resources toward properties with a history of code complaints rather than owners with clean records. Councilmember Tito Rodriguez and others questioned how self-inspections would protect tenants from retaliation by landlords; staff and council discussed the water-account activation process as a potential verification point for tenancy and lease documentation.

Resident Sean Nutt, speaking during public comments, asked the council for a clearer presentation of the program’s numbers — inspections per day, failure rates, and common failure causes — and flagged a potential mismatch between figures presented at previous meetings. City Manager Paulette Hartman told the council that the earlier presentation included all types of inspections (new-construction, plumbing, etc.), while the March 3 update focused specifically on single-family rental inspections; she said staff will provide a comprehensive overview when the draft ordinance is returned for council review.

The item was informational; no ordinance was adopted at the work session. Staff said they will draft ordinance changes and return them for work-session review prior to any formal council action.