INSPECTIONS OF RENTAL PROPERTY TO BEGIN PALMDALE'S AIM IS TO MAKE UNITS HEALTHY, LIVABLE FOR TENANTS.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- In what city officials say is a bid to enhance and preserve Palmdale's housing stock, a program is being launched to inspect rental properties on a regular basis for health and building code violations.

Although a couple of inspections have already been done, the program will begin in earnest over the next few weeks. Owners of rental properties are required to register their units with the city by Dec. 1.

``We're not trying to make palaces,'' said Bud Davis, the city's supervising building inspector. ``We want to get them to at least the minimum standard that a home should be.''

Rental properties will be inspected on a one-, three- or five-year basis.

Well-maintained properties will be inspected only every five years; those where inspectors find one major violation that is corrected within 30 days would be reinspected in three years; and any building with more than one major violation or any violation that takes the landlord more than 30 days to correct would be reinspected in a year.

``If you have poor compliance, you'll see us every year,'' Davis said.

The program is expected to cost about $700,000 over three years. City officials estimate the program's costs will be recovered by the registration fees -- $134.70 for a rental unit on an individual property while the fee for multiple units on one property is $92.70 for the first unit and $68.25 for each additional unit.

With about 11,600 rental units in the city, it will take about 2 1/2 to three years to complete the first round of inspections. To handle the workload, the city has hired a permit technician and a building inspector and is looking for a second inspector, said Shane Walters, Palmdale's director of building and safety.

The city is also putting into place a wireless system that will allow the inspectors to file their reports from the field, Walters said.

The two inspections that have already been done were conducted at the owners' request.

One of those was a home owned by Johnnie Gibson, a general contractor who would like to expand his holdings of rentals in the city.

``I don't like to sit around and wait,'' Gibson said of requesting an inspection. ``To me, it (the program) is good. I don't want to see our city go downhill.''

Palmdale's inspection proposal is described by city officials as an outgrowth of the 13-year-old Partners Against Crime program, which teams city inspectors with sheriff's deputies and other officials to combat crime and unsafe housing conditions, particularly in downtown apartments.

City officials said they believe it is time to augment the PAC efforts and go beyond the city's present practice of inspecting rental units only when a tenant complains.

``This will ensure there are good-quality products for those who rent,'' said Mayor Jim Ledford. ``We have examples of renters being penalized for reporting their problems. This is going to do a lot to help them.''

The regular inspection program and the fees will reduce the instances when the city attorney must seek an inspection warrant from a judge, help shelter tenants from retaliation from landlords angry about complaints, and provide money to pay for it all, city officials said.

As the inspections progress, city officials said they will evaluate whether additional staffing is required.