Council continues debate on residential rental inspection ordinance after hours of public testimony

The Land Use, Housing and Transportation Standing Committee continued consideration of an ordinance to establish a residential rental inspection program after more than two hours of public testimony and detailed staff discussion.

The ordinance before the committee (ordinance 2025-161) would create a Residential Rental Inspection Program, known in presentations as RRIP, and authorize proactive and periodic inspections of rental dwelling units consistent with the Code of Virginia. Kevin J. Bonk, director of Planning and Development Review, told the committee the ordinance would allow the city to perform initial inspections, periodic inspections (no more than once per calendar year), transfer inspections after property sale, and follow-up inspections until code compliance is achieved. For properties with 10 or more units, inspectors would select 10% of units for the initial inspection; a violation in one unit could trigger inspection of all units in a complex. New construction or units that pass an initial inspection would be exempt from periodic and transfer inspections for 48 months.

Bonk said the Code of Virginia sets prescriptive limits on what municipalities may do when creating inspection programs and that any decision to add units…