Bo March didn’t necessarily have a problem when the city told him to enlarge the windows on a rental house he owns at 2530 Ridge Court.

But he didn’t like that a similar house next door and “hundreds” more in town weren’t being raised to the same standards.

“Just by virtue of it being a rental, that’s why it was singled out,” March said.

March is one of a dozen landlords appealing the city’s order to put bigger windows in rental homes to meet city building safety codes. Now the city may change those codes designed to help people safely escape a home fire so landlords don’t have to do extensive remodeling.

Last year, the city adopted a new building code based on the 1997 Uniform Building Code, used by cities and counties across the country. It mandates that “sleeping rooms” in houses should include a 5.7-square-foot window to be an fire escape route.

Like other provisions in the city building code, the rule applies to all homes whether rented or owner-occupied. But after a home is built, it doesn’t often undergo more city inspections unless it is remodeled.

That changed in February. The city began inspecting rental homes in single-family-zoned areas under a new rental registration ordinance. March and other landlords of older homes (often ranch-style houses built in the 1950s) were told they would have to put in bigger windows if they wanted to keep renting the houses.

Landlords complained to the city, frustrated that similar owner-occupied homes weren’t facing renovation orders.

Last week, Neighborhood Resources Director Victor Torres came up with a solution: Amend the code to let older homes keep their small windows, as long as they were built to meet the code requirements of the time they were built.

“The option does not make buildings less safe; the current level of safety is maintained,” Torres said in a memo to the Neighborhood Resources Advisory Committee. Under the change, he said, “a vast majority of rental units may continue occupancy.”

March said the proposed change sounds fair.

“It’s a good step in a direction that’s equitable to renters and property owners,” he said.

The committee will consider the code change at its next meeting, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.