Butler fire department fills in landlords on rental ordinance
Butler’s rental property ordinance will take effect in just a few months, and on Tuesday, Oct. 15, a dozen landlords of city properties learned what they need to do to stay in compliance with the new rules.
The property rental ordinance, passed by city council earlier this year, requires landlords to report the conditions of non-owner-occupied residential spaces to the city before they are occupied by tenants. Under the ordinance, no tenant can occupy a property unless the landlord fills out a Rental Occupancy Report and a Property Condition Form and files them both with the city within 10 days of a tenant moving in.
The forms are available on the city’s website, along with instructions on how to complete them.
Butler Bureau of Fire Chief Chris Switala led a session alongside city Councilman Don Shearer on Tuesday. Switala covered the history of fire events in the U.S. that led to the evolution of fire codes and reviewed the fire code for single-family homes, duplexes and multi-unit rental properties.
After Jan. 1, landlords will have to show proof that they are following fire codes in their rental properties. Shearer said they must upload one photo into the fire department's emergency software, so the image can be referenced if firefighters are called to respond to the property. Landlords also have to upload a photo of a property’s electrical box, which firefighters will scan to check for fire or safety hazards.
Switala said the new ordinance won’t add much work to the department’s duties; firefighters will just check the photos to ensure a landlord is complying.
“What my understanding is we're going to do those initial reviews, and if there is an issue we see, we'll send it to code enforcement,” Switala said.
Photos of the exterior of properties will also help the department in its responses to fire emergencies.
“It can provide us building intelligence, how the building is constructed,” Switala said, “any special hazards that firefighters need to be aware of like window wells, an open shaft, a roof of fire spread within the building.”
Shearer added that the occupancy report has to be sent to the city upon a change in tenant in a property, so the city will not have an influx of reports when the ordinance takes effect in 2025. Although some landlords will not have to send this report immediately, Shearer said the city would like landlords, even those with long-standing tenants, to file the report with the city.
Shearer and Switala also tackled some of the ordinance’s other requirements at the session Tuesday, with Shearer saying the city plans to organize more events to get information out to landlords in the city.
“We want to train them on how to do background checks on tenants, so they can be more proactive than reactive,” Shearer said. “There's going to be one seminar on proper lease-writing, what you can and can't include in a lease agreement.”
Court cases regarding landlord-tenant relations in the city have either been continued or resolved, because landlords often address issues after being served, according to Shearer. The city may issue a citation to a landlord if other attempts to reach them don’t work, Shearer said.
“If there are questions rather than not responding, it's better to ask, because otherwise our only means of communication is filing a citation,” he said.
