By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
With less than two months till the deadline for rental housing inspections to be submitted to the City of Bowling Green, fewer than a quarter have been turned in by local landlords.
City Planning Director Heather Sayler reported to City Council last week that 7,172 rental housing units have been registered with the city. But with an Oct. 1 deadline looming for exterior and interior inspections, just 1,400 self-inspections have been submitted so far.
Council President Mark Hollenbaugh indicated that the city has made several accommodations for landlords in the registration and inspection process.
“I can only speak for myself,” Hollenbaugh said. “But I have no desire to extend this deadline.”
Bowling Green’s rental registration and inspection program was created after four decades of debate between city officials, landlords and renters.
In May of 2021, City Council adopted the first step toward regulating rental housing in the city by passing an ordinance requiring owners of rental housing to register their properties with the city.
The ordinance requiring inspections of residential rental properties had to wade through more months of debates before it was approved later that year.
The city has worked with landlords, first who resisted any registration effort, then as many lagged behind missing the deadline to register their rentals. City Council listened as landlords protested inspections ensuring the safety of their rentals, and agreed to allow self-inspections by landlords. Then council twice extended the inspection deadline as landlords complained that the inspection checklists were too onerous.
City Attorney Hunter Brown revised the self-inspection forms to make them easier to complete, but yet still cover the necessary criteria.
The original deadline for self-inspection reports was Oct. 1, 2023. At the request of landlords, the city pushed back that date to Dec. 31, 2023. Then at further insistence from landlords, the city extended the deadline even further, to Oct. 1, 2024.
Now as the extended deadline looms, fewer than a quarter of the self-inspections have been submitted to the city.
According to Sayler, there is no fine currently in place for landlords who fail to make that deadline. However, those not submitting on time will risk losing the right to perform their own inspections – and will be subject to contracted inspections.
So far, of the 1,400 self-inspection reports filed with the city, only a couple listed any problems with the units, Sayler said. When contacted by city employees, those landlords reportedly said they misunderstood the checklist and were actually in compliance, she added.
The city ordinance does not allow the city to check the validity of the landlord self-inspections – unless a complaint is made by a renter, or lodged with the Wood County Health Department or Wood County Building Inspection Office.
The inspection submittal forms will only be accepted through the city’s online Rental Inspection Portal. (Assigned username and password were previously emailed and mailed.) Those who have already submitted the checklists for their rental units, are in compliance and do not have to submit the checklists again in 2024.
The next deadline, for those in compliance, is the submittal of the Interior Self-Inspection Form, required annually, which will be due anytime between June 1, 2025 through Oct. 1, 2025, and the Exterior Self-Inspection Form, required every two years, which will be due any time between June 1, 2026 through Oct. 1, 2026.
Questions may be directed to the Planning Department by phone at 419-354-6218 or by emailing BG Rental Program.
