Chester staff recommends repealing presale inspection ordinance to focus on rental registration and enforcement

Nikki Wegman, interim director of the Department of Community and Economic Development, told the Housing and Community Development Committee that staff recommends repealing Chester's presale inspection ordinance and refocusing inspection capacity on the city's rental registration and vacancy registry programs.

The recommendation, presented at a committee meeting, is intended to concentrate limited inspection resources on tenant-occupied units, nuisance abatement and follow-through on violations rather than triggering inspections for every real estate transaction. "This presentation is just gonna give a brief overview of the rental registration program and another ordinance that the Bureau has on the books called the presale program," Wegman said during her introduction.

Why it matters: Wegman told the committee there are an estimated 13,000 rental units in Chester (the census shows about 14,000 total housing units) and that rental registration is designed to promote safe housing and compliance with property maintenance codes. Under the current rules, rental units are licensed every three years and tenant-occupied units are registered annually; presale inspections are triggered by recorded property transactions.

Wegman described how the presale inspection works: when a recorded transaction is reported to the city, inspectors run a checklist, report violations to the seller and the report is shared with the buyer. "That report is then shared with Paul to let him know these are the violations that exist. And if Paul says this is great, I'll buy as is. Paul will buy the property and then he is 6 months from the possession of the property to cure any of those violations," Wegman said. Staff said private-market inspections often duplicate the city's effort and that the presale program is not consistently followed; Wegman estimated about 50% follow-through on transactions.

Enforcement tools and gaps: Wegman reviewed enforcement tools available under the rental registration ordinance, including revocation of licenses for failure to cure violations or failure to pay registration fees, and the option to withhold permits for noncompliant owners. "The city does have the right to revoke their rental license and tag that as an illegal unit," she said. The department also uses violation letters, citations and magistrate hearings when owners fail to comply.

Committee members pressed for specifics on tenant remedies and problem properties. Wegman described the city's response to life-safety complaints (for example, no-heat complaints receive 24-hour compliance requirements) and said inspectors follow up to confirm remediation. She said staff has recently standardized inspection training and processes and is working to improve follow-through: "We're getting to a point of, I feel proud about where we started and where we are now, but there's still a lot more that we need to get done."

Lead testing and owner-occupied homes: Councilor Warren and other members asked how the city would continue to track lead inspections if the presale ordinance is repealed. Wegman noted the code enforcement team completed lead training and the city can request lead inspection reports from transactions, but she said there is not a clear, automatic method to require or obtain lead reports for owner-occupied sales without a specific reporting requirement. "We couldn't come up with a clear cut way of doing inspections on homeowner occupied properties unless we made it a requirement that we are to get a copy of any sort of report," Wegman said.

Examples and problem sites: Committee members raised longstanding complaints about specific developments, including Benjamin Banneker (referred to in the meeting as Benjamin Bannekers) and Crowley/Crosby Square Apartments, citing poor living conditions and repeated tenant complaints. Wegman said the bureau is prioritizing critical inspections at large complexes and standardizing compliance timelines, which she called a recent focus of her six-month tenure.

Recommendation and next steps: Wegman asked the committee to consider allowing staff to repeal the presale inspection requirement and reallocate those resources to rental registration, vacant property registry enforcement, nuisance abatement and stronger follow-through on issued compliance dates. She characterized the presale inspections as largely duplicative of private-market inspections and not central to the bureau's mission. The committee did not take a formal vote on the repeal at the meeting; Wegman asked for consideration and suggested executive session for further discussion.

Meeting outcome: No formal repeal vote was recorded at the meeting. The committee moved to adjourn following public comments and the planning discussion that followed.

Ending: Staff said they would provide further details to the committee, follow up on outstanding inspection questions for named developments and return with any recommended ordinance language or procedural changes for the committee's consideration.