Steve Meldahl
Jordan work
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Snyder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Minneapolis Issues Forum" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 10:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Mpls] Minneapolis Inspections
On 3/7/05 6:09 PM, "steven meldahl" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I bought another single family rehab project last October in North
Minneapolis. I pulled my rehab permits and began the needed work immediately.
When I finished the remodeling work in mid January, I put the house up for
rent and registered the house to get my rental license and received my rental
license. My new tenants moved in in late February. I just received a $400
bill for not registering the house as a vacant building during the time my
subcontractors were working on it. So now I have to set up a hearing to fight
them on this ridiculous charge. I did everything by the book, but the City
needs the money, so I will have to fight them, again taking up my time and
time of the City employees who will have to appear at the Hearing.
Sorry, but unless you can show that there's no actual ordinance regarding registering a vacant building, it would appear that you did not do everything by the book. I'm guessing that will be difficult, since it took me all of about two minutes to search the ordinances online and find:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 249.80. Vacant building registration. (a) The owner of a residential building or building located in a residentially zoned area shall register the building with the director of inspections within five (5) days after it becomes a vacant building. In this section, a "vacant building" is one that is: (1) Condemned; (2) Unoccupied and unsecured for five (5) days or more; (3) Unoccupied and secured by means other than those normally used in the design of the building for thirty (30) days or more; (4) Unoccupied and has multiple housing maintenance, fire or building code violations existing for thirty (30) days or more; (5) Unoccupied for a period of time over three hundred sixty-five (365) days and during which time an order has been issued to correct a nuisance condition pursuant to section 227.90. (b) The registration shall be submitted on forms provided by the director of inspections and shall include the following information supplied by the owner: (1) A description of the premises; (2) The names and addresses of the owner or owners; (3) The names and addresses of all known lienholders and all other parties with an ownership interest in the building; (4) The period of time the building is expected to remain vacant; and a plan and timetable for returning the building to appropriate occupancy or for demolition of the building. (c) The owner shall submit a plan and timetable that must comply with the guidelines adopted by the director of inspections. The guidelines are adopted for purposes of preventing nuisance conditions and maintaining compliance with this code. These guidelines shall be made available to building owners. The plan shall be submitted at the time of registration, or within a reasonable period of time thereafter to be determined by the director of inspections. (d) The owner shall comply with all applicable laws and codes. The owner shall notify the director of inspections of any changes in information supplied as part of the vacant building registration within thirty (30) days of the change. If the plan or timetable for the vacant building is revised in any way, the revisions must meet the approval of the director of inspections. (e) The owner and the subsequent owners shall keep the building secured and safe and the building and grounds properly maintained until the rehabilitation or demolition has been completed. (f) Failure of the owner or any subsequent owner to maintain the building and premises that result in abatement completed by the city shall be grounds for revocation of the approved plan and shall be subject to any applicable penalties provided by law. (g) The new owner(s) shall register or re-register the vacant building with the director of inspections within thirty (30) days of any transfer of an ownership interest in a vacant building. The new owner(s) shall comply with the approved plan and timetable submitted by the previous owner until any proposed changes are submitted and meet the approval of the director of inspections. (h) The director of inspections shall include in the file any property-specific written statements from community organizations, other interested parties or citizens regarding the history, problems, status or blighting influence of a vacant building. (i) Vacant building fees: (1) The owner of a vacant building shall pay an annual fee of four hundred dollars ($400.00). The fee is imposed to defray the administrative costs for registering and processing the vacant building registration form and for the costs of the city in monitoring the vacant building site. (2) The first annual fee shall be paid no later than five (5) days after the building becomes vacant. Subsequent annual fees shall be due on the anniversary date of initial vacancy. The fees shall be paid in full prior to the issuance of any building permits, with the exception of a demolition permit. (3) Unpaid fees shall be levied and collected as a special assessment against the property as provided for under section 227.100, with interest at the rate of eight (8) percent per annum on the unpaid balance thereof. Upon transfer of ownership, the new owner(s) shall be responsible for all unpaid and subsequent annual fees. (j) A building owner shall provide access to all interior portions of an unoccupied building in order to permit a complete inspection for the purpose of enforcing and assuring compliance with the provisions of this chapter. (92-Or-110, � 8, 9-11-92; 2001-Or-054, �� 4, 5, 4-20-01) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you're arguing that it's a stupid ordinance, that's one thing, but it's still up to Minneapolis Inspections to enforce all the ordinances, even the ones you think are stupid.
I have had my share of experiences with Minneapolis Inspections since becoming the contact person a few years ago for the properties my fraternity owns in Dinkytown. For the most part, I think we've gotten fair treatment from our inspector. He's been responsive when we have questions. He's been flexible with scheduling visits. He's granted extensions when needed, including last year when we had a contractor drop the ball on us on a major exterior painting job.
We did have some trouble with getting notices in a timely fashion at first due to poor decision-making by some data entry person resulting in contact info not being updated, but our inspector helped us with that, too. He even defended us a bit more than a year ago when some of our tenants in a house leased out to another organization tried pulling a stunt to get out of their rent.
By the way, we were rescued from that painting fiasco by Issues Forum member Dennis Plante, who stepped in and finished the job that the previous contractor couldn't. Oh, and for less than the estimate he provided me, too. I cannot say enough good things about him and his painting crew.
Mark Snyder Windom Park
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