photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured Thursday, July 7, 2016.

City leaders will soon consider making changes aimed at strengthening the inspection program for the thousands of rental properties in Lawrence that most residents call home.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider adopting an ordinance that includes several changes to the city’s regulations for property rentals. The structure of the city’s current inspection program has resulted in a very small percentage of rental properties being inspected annually, and the proposed ordinance would increase each landlord’s sampling size and generally be less permissive when it comes to violations.

About 60% of Lawrence residents live in rental properties, according to the U.S. Census estimates, and discussions about the poor condition of some of the city’s rentals and the city’s role in inspections have been going on for years. The city’s current program was approved in 2014, and was considered a compromise after pushback from landlords. In 2019, the city inspected only 206 of the 21,174 rental units licensed by the city, or a little less than 1%, according to the city’s annual rental licensing and inspection report, and the pandemic resulted in even fewer rentals being inspected in 2020.

Under the current ordinance, the city inspects 10% of a landlord’s units, not to exceed 15 units total, every three years. Under an incentive program included in the ordinance, all of a landlord’s properties are exempt from inspections for six years if fewer than five violations are found per unit. A landlord can be cited for any violation of the city code or the city’s property maintenance code, but only a list of 27 violations count against property owners for the purposes of the incentive program. That structure resulted in about 90% of landlords qualifying for the six-year inspection cycle.

Commissioners have previously discussed the proposal and were supportive of moving forward with changes to strengthen the regulations, though there was discussion on which specific changes would best accomplish that and how the city could focus compliance on the worst offenders. The most recent conversation about the rental inspection program arose when the commission approved regulations for Airbnbs and other short-term rentals, and Vice Mayor Courtney Shipley pointed out that those regulations were stricter than the city’s regulations for long-term rentals.

The proposed amendment would increase a landlord’s sample size from 10% to 20%, not to exceed 25 of a landlord’s units, and reduce the number of violations to qualify for the six-year inspection cycle from five to three. Another significant change would essentially broaden the potential code issues that would qualify as a violation under the incentive program by eliminating the list of 27 violations, meaning that any violation of city code or the city’s property maintenance code would count as a violation.

Changes are also proposed to a provision related to additional inspections. Under the current program, if more than five violations per unit are discovered, the city “may” inspect an additional 10% of a landlord’s units, not to exceed 15 units. The proposed amendment would change the “may” to “shall,” increase the number of violations that trigger additional inspections from five to seven, and increase the additional inspection from 10% to 20% of a landlord’s units.

The city’s long-term rental annual reports from 2015- 2019 identified an average of 2.94 violations cited per inspection under the list of 27 violations, according to a city staff memo to the commission. About a third of the units inspected also had property maintenance code violations in addition to the violations cited under the incentive program. Based on those figures, city staff is recommending the different triggers for fewer or additional inspections under the ordinance.

As far as costs go, staff state in the memo that they do not believe additional inspection staff will be required to cover the increase in inspections under the proposed changes, and any additional costs would be negligible. Code Enforcement Manager Brian Jimenez previously told commissioners that they could decide to do away with the incentive program altogether, but that would likely require additional inspection staff and thereby additional funding than the current program.

The Lawrence City Commission will meet virtually at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, and some staff will be in place at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. The public may attend the meeting in person at City Hall or participate virtually by following directions included in the commission’s meeting agenda, which is available on the city’s website, lawrenceks.org.