Committee directs staff to align rental-permit revocation language and addresses low apartment registration uptake

The University Heights Building and Housing Committee on Oct. 21 directed staff to prepare revisions that would make rental-permit revocation rules consistent across single-family and apartment housing and to mirror apartment inspection language in the single-/two-family section.

Chair Councilwoman Win Weizer said legal counsel advised copying enforcement language from Chapter 1493 (the apartment registration/inspection ordinance) into the rental-permit revocation provision for one- and two-family rentals (1280.10). "Part of this came from a discussion ... The dog owner lived in a rental house and there was nothing in the code that would allow for anything to occur in terms of the rental permit," Weizer said.

Markell Davis, Director of Building, Housing and Community Development, told the committee that 31 multiunit structures exist in the city and only eight had completed the registration and paid the $500-per-building fee to trigger inspections since the ordinance passed on June 20, 2023. Davis said the fee covers inspection work and the registration is annual while unit inspections occur every three years.

Committee members debated whether apartment buildings should remain subject to a single-violation revocation standard or be moved to a three-violation standard like single-family rentals. Law Director Brad Bryan and several councilmembers favored consistency. "I thought there probably should be some consistency. It seemed to me like three might be the correct number rather than one," Bryan said.

Members also discussed practical enforcement: Bryan said the city does not have authority to evict tenants directly and that revoking a permit is primarily a leverage tool against owners, possibly followed by court remedies in extreme cases. "They could not physically order tenants out of the building, and they could not file an eviction process on their own," Bryan said.

The committee voted unanimously on a motion by Councilman Christopher Cooney, seconded by Councilman John Rach, asking Mr. Bryan to review subsection H of 1493-04 to make the number-of-violations language consistent with 1280; it also approved mirroring 1493 language in 1280.10 and asked staff to return with drafted language for final committee review.

What happens next

Staff will prepare draft amendments aligning revocation criteria and inspection language for the committees next meeting; the committee also requested data on the unit counts for Huntington Greens 11 buildings and additional registration details.