By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
By the deadline on the final day of last year, 7,216 rental units were registered and 7,176 of those reported self-inspections under the City of Bowling Green’s rental housing program.
Of the 18 landlords owning those 40 rental units who did not report self-inspections, five reported that the properties did not pass the inspections, and the other 35 failed to turn in any inspection reports.
All the major landlords in the city turned in their rental registrations and passing inspections, and overall compliance with the rental program had improved from the previous year.
It remains to be seen if the city’s rental inspection program will continue to trust landlords to conduct their own inspections, or if the city will make efforts to verify the passing reports.
Last September, Bowling Green City Council members revisited the idea of independent audits in the inspection program.
Currently, owners of rental housing – apartments and homes – submit results of their own inspections of their properties. Previously when some city leaders had tried to require third party inspections, Bowling Green landlords overwhelmingly protested – insisting that the vast majority of rental units are safe and would pass inspections, and requiring outside inspections was unnecessary.
However, a couple years into the registration and inspection program, council agreed that a worthy goal for 2026 would be requiring independent inspections of a portion of the housing, then comparing the independent reports with the self-inspection reports.
It was suggested that the independent audits be performed by city employees. If the audits showed that the self-inspections by landlords included viable information, then they may not be required.
But the city’s planning department staff said this week that they lack personnel to do random inspections.
“We don’t have staff to do any type of inspections,” Planning Director Heather Sayler said.
Currently, when complaints are made about rental units, the planning office directs them to the BG Fire Division and the Wood County Health Department, which are qualified to conduct safety inspections.
Sayler pointed to examples of a broken window, and the lack of a window for a basement rental unit, that were reported to the city last year. Those deficiencies were corrected in a matter of weeks.
“If we know about things, we can help get it to the proper channel to get it fixed,” she said.
The fact that Ohio is a “pro-private property rights state” gives local governments fewer rights to inspect rental units, Sayler said.
“No one can enter a rental unit without permission,” she said. “It makes it very hard. It’s hard to be aggressive with housing.”
So the BG Planning Department is focusing on building relationships with landlords, and providing step-by-step assistance to those who are struggling with the new requirements.
Chase Fletcher, senior planner with the city’s planning office, pulled a thank you card out of his desk drawer from a 97-year-old landlord with one rental property, who appreciated him walking her through the inspection process.
Sayler and Fletcher also heard from other landlords who have said the rental program forces them to look closely at their units and make repairs that in many cases they weren’t aware were needed prior to inspections.
Last year, a total of 7,280 rental dwelling units were registered with the city – of those 7,170 submitted the required self-inspection checklists to the city by the deadline. Of those, 67 rental housing units failed at least one item on the city’s self-inspection checklists.
Examples of interior and exterior “failed” checklist items included:
- Carbon monoxide detector not installed in dwelling unit.
- Exposed conductor under kitchen sink to garbage disposal.
- Outlets not protected by ground fault circuit interrupter within six feet of water source.
- Extension cord needed replaced with surge protector.
- Porch roof needed repairs.
- Natural gas pipe needed capped in a kitchen.
- Furnace that needed to be properly vented.
- Electric meter that needed to be re-affixed properly to the house.
Fletcher reported that the most frequent concerns from renters pertained to their landlords charging them extra for the inspections. In those cases, the planning office explained that the city is not requiring the landlords to pay any fees for the program – so any increased rental charges are being imposed solely by the landlords.
