Landlords: rental inspection ordinance unnecessary

BARSTOW — When city officials asked residents about their opinions about a proposed ordinance requiring that all residential rental units be inspected, Barstow landlords responded in a clear voice: no thanks.

A crowd of nearly 70 Barstow landlords spoke during a town hall meeting at the Cora Harper Fitness Center on Thursday night, an event sponsored by the city to discuss the proposed rules change. Attendees mostly objected to the fees related to the mandatory inspections and property registration as well as language in the draft ordinance that could fine landlords for their tenants’ criminal behavior.

“This rule is wrong. It is wrong, wrong, wrong,” said Bill Tomilson, who owns one rental unit in Barstow. “No, I’m not responsible for what my tenant does. I’m not their parent and not their boss.”

Representatives from large property management companies said that while something needs to be done to address the problem of poorly maintained properties and crime in the city, the inspection ordinance in its current form was not a good solution.

“I’m not for it the way it’s written, but we need something,” said Carol Randall, property manager with the Alliance Management Group. “This can be fixed.”

She said that she’s concerned especially with the idea that landlords can be fined for their tenants’ activities, but said that some landlords can do more pre-screening of their tenants to prevent renting to criminals.

“I got a 42-page criminal report on an applicant yesterday. My girls thought the printer was stuck,” Randall said.

She said that she’d like to see more involvement from police, code enforcement and the district attorney in creating the inspection rules and said she thought that people are looking for a way to fix the problems without more government.

Others agreed that there was a problem but were unsure of the solution.

“We’re sick of having houses in our neighborhoods that are run down,” said Priscilla Jaramillo, a long-time Barstow resident who recently bought property to rent out. “I totally understand where they’re coming from, we need to do something.”

Some attendees thought that the inspections qualified as unlawful search and seizure of property, which the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution prohibits. Jeanette Hayhurst, project manager for housing for the city, said that she’s confident that the rules would not violate existing law.

She said that the ordinance was still very much in the draft stages but that the language was pulled directly from the inspections guidelines the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development uses for its housing programs. She said the cities of Lynwood and Pasadena have similar inspection rules.

Hayhurst said that the ordinance was to ensure basic living standards for Barstow tenants.

“We are looking at making sure people have hot and cold water, heat, basic habitability issues,” she said. “We aren’t requiring new carpet or those kinds of things.”

She said that although only a portion of landlords, mostly those who don’t live in Barstow, aren’t providing adequate housing for their renters but the ordinance would have to apply to all of the city’s 3,200 rental units.

“You can’t do selective enforcement. You have to do everyone in order to be fair,” she said.

She said the $50 registration fees and $100 inspection charge per unit every two years would go to pay an outside consultant to perform the inspections. She said that the city’s code enforcement department can address external problems with housing units but lacks the authority to issue citations for problems inside residences.

She said that the goal of the meeting was to hear the publics’ concerns and build consensus on how the rules should be changed.

“I was very, very pleased that the people showed up and are willing to help us work on this,” she said. “Are we done? No. This is a process.”

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