Just out of curiosity, has anyone that's dealt with city inspectors made them point out the regulations regarding the changes + dbl checked that they're being properly interpreted? I'm asking this because my impression of inspectors is that they tend to do what they think is right but that doesn't always coincide with ordinances nor with when they can be applied. I'm not being cynical, there are a lot of things to keep track of. And of course there are some that find it easier just to make some up. This was the experience that my parents had when doing their own general contracting when building a home. Mom would play dumb and have the inspector point out the ordinance "so her husband could understand what needs to be done because she can't explain this stuff well". It might help to avoid having to do some work in these cases.
Allen Graetz Lowry Hill -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jane Strauss Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 7:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Mpls] Minneapolis Inspections I agree that Inspections has not changed all that much. When I purchased my home, the brick and stucco (ie not wood frame) "mother in law" cottage in the rear was rented, as it had been for decades. In fact it was built before the main house. I continued to rent it. At some point, some unidentified person reported that I had "people living in my garage." You got it. I have a garage tucked under the house (large enough for a beetle or model A) but no garage on the alley, only a one bedroom house with full basement. Suddenly it was open season. I was in process of painting so they could not get me for that. Instead I was subject to full inspection, including the demand that I replace several glass block windows with crank out openings in the middle (which we suspected were structural) with windows, and a large number ofother things. Result? Our tenants now have to pay more for their hot water because the only way we could comply with orders in any cost effective manner was to replace an almost new gas hot water heater with an electric one, the wall is now less stable, because we had to replace the structural glass block with windows which now only have headers, and my equity in the house has been substantially diminished by the significant loans I had to take out. Oh yes, and my tenant is much less happy ecause she felt safer with the glass block than with the casement windows which were all I could find that had sufficient openings for Inspections and would approximate fitting in the existing openings. The clincher for all of this is that I have been trying to keep that property at below market rent to add to the stock of truly affordable housing, but I'll probably have to raise the rent to market rate just to cover the added loans if I don't get a substantial increase in pay soon (unlikely, as I am currently in my 50s and looking for work, having been downsized by a nonprofit due to our current wonderful economic situation in this state!). Jane Strauss Longfellow REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
