Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutordinance.council.047.75RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves ORDINANCE NO. 47 (Series of 1975) AN ORDINANCE IMPOSING A LICENSING REQUIREMENT FOR ALL RENTAL UNITS WITHIN THE CITY OF ASPEN; 2~QUIRING ALL OWNERS OF RENTAL PROPERTY TO ACQUIRE A CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE ON OR BEFORE DECEMBER 1, 1975; CONDITIONING ISSUanCE OF ANY SUCH CERTIFICATE ON INSPECTION OF THE PREMISES BY THE BUILDING INSPECTOR AND CONFORM~NCE OF THE PREMISES WITH THE HOUSING AND ZONING CODES OF THE CITY; PROVIDING FOR THE .ISSUANCE OF A TEMPORARY CERTIF- ICATE IF ALLEGED VIOLATIONS DO NOT CONSTITUTE AN IMMEDIATE HEALTH HAZARD; PROVIDING FOR THE EXPIRATION OF CERTIFICATES OF COMPLIANCE AFTER STATED PERIODS AND REQUIRING REINSPECTION FOR RENEWAL; REQUIRING REISSUANCE IN THE EVENT OF TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP; 5:STABLISHING INSPECTION AND REINSPECTION FEES; IMPOS- ING A FINE OF NOT MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED ($300.00) DOLLARS OR IMPRISONMENT OF NOT MORE THAN NINETY (90) DAYS (OR BOTH) FOR EACH VIOLATION AND SUCH OTHER REMEDIES AS MAY BE ALREADY PROVIDED BY LAW WHEREAS, the Aspen City Council has determined that the public health, safety and welfare require the systematic regulation of rental units within the City, to insure their compliance with the housing and zoning codes adopted by the City, ~nd WHEREAS, the Council has further determined only by a process of licensing and periodic inspection can enforcement be guaranteed, [iOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO: Section 1 That the Municipal Code of the City of Aspen, Colorado, is hereby amended by adding Article XII to Chapter 7, which said chapter reads as follows: "Art. XII Licensing of Rental Units Sec. 7-500 Definitions For the purposes of this Article XII, the given terms shall be defined as follows, unless the context in which they are used clearly indicates otherwise: RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves (a) Rental Property. All dwelling units of whatever type located within the City of Aspen and rented for valuable consideration, exclud- ing dwelling units owned by the federal, state or local governments or licensed by the State of Colorado as health care facilities. (b) Dwelling Unit. A single room, or group of rooms, rented out as a unit, regardless of in what type of building such room or rooms is, or are, located. By way of illustration, ~ut not by way of limitation, ~uch room or rooms may be located within a single family home, mobile home, duplex, triplex, fourplex, apartment build- ing condominium building, rooming house, motel, hotel or lodge. (c) Owner. A person who owns rental property as well as his agent or other representative who is authorized by him to rent out such property. Sec. 7-501 Certificate of Compliance Required On or after December 1, 1975, no one shall allow any person to occupy any rental property as a tenant or lessee or otherwise for valuable consideration unless each room or group of rooms, constituting the rental property,shall have been inspected and determined to be in compliance with the housing and zoning codes of the City of Aspen as evidenced by a valid Certificate of Compliance, or Temporary Certificate of Compliance, issued by the Building Inspector of the City of Aspen. Sec. 7-502 Application for Certificate On or before September 1, !975, every owner .of -2- RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves rental dwelling unit(s) as of such date shall submit to the Building Inspector, on forms to be supplied by him, a written application for inspection of said rental property. For rental property coming into existence after October 1, !975, a Certificate of Compliance shall issue at the time of issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy, and no inspection fee required by this Article shall be charged. Sec. 7-503 Issuance of Certificate of Compliance (a) After inspection of the rental property, the Building Inspector shall do one of the following: (1) If the property complies with the pro- visions of the housing and zoning codes of the City of Aspen, l~e shall issue a Certificate of Compliance for the property. (2) If the property does not comply with the pro- visions of the housing and zoning codes, he shall issue a Temporary Certificate of Compliance for the property with notice of the alleged violations; provided, !~owever, if the violations are such that they create, produce or result in an imminent hazard to the public health or the physical or mental health of the occupants therein, the Building Inspector shall not issue a Temporary Certificate of Compliance but instead take such remedial action as is other- ~ise proved by law. (b) One Certificate of Compliance covering all ~lwelling units within a building shall be issued for that building. If reasonable doubt exists as to whether a structure constitutes one or more than one building, it shall be considered to be only one building -3- RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves if only one street address has been assigned to it by the City. If a Temporary Certificate of Compliance is issued for a multi-unit building, one or more units of which comply with all provisions of the housing and zoning codes, the Temporary Certificate shall indicate on its face which units are in compliance. (c) No Certificate of Compliance nor Temporary Certificate of Compliance shall be issued until the appropriate inspection fee, as hereinafter required,has been paid. Sec. 7-504 Failure to Inspect (a) In case an owner desires to rent property and he applies for inspection but the Building Inspector fails to conduct an inspection within fifteen (15) work- ing days after receiving the application for inspection, and failure to inspect was not due to any action taken by the owner, the owner may proceed to rent out the property pending investigation without issuance of a Certificate (or Temporary Certificate) of Compliance, and,pending inspection, shall not be deemed in violation of this Article. (b) In case a Certificate (or Temporary Certificate) of Compliance has been issued for particular rental pro- perty, but subsequent inspection reveals the existence of a housing or zoning code violation, and notice of violation is issued pursuant to that inspection, if the Building Inspector fails to conduct on request a re-inspection within a reasonable time after such re- quest, in order to determine whether the violation has been corrected, and if that failure was not due to any -4- RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves action taken by the owner, then the owner may con- tinue, on correction of the violation, to rent out such property and shall not be held to be in violation of this Article pending reinspection. Sec. 7-505 Expiration of Certificate of Compliance (a) All Certificates of Compliance shall be assigned an expiration date which is eighteen (18) months after its date of issuance, subject to the following exceptions: (1) The Building Inspector shall be permit- ted to assign to the initial Certificate of Compliance issued to each rental property an expiration date which is from eighteen (18) to twenty-four (24) months after its date of issuance depending upon how long a period of time administra- tively will reasonably be required for the Building Inspector to re-inspect the property. (2) If an inspection reveals the absence of any housing and zoning code violations, the expiration date assigned to the Certificate of Compliance for that rental property shall be thirty-six (36) months after its date of issuance. (3) Every Certificate of Compliance issued simultaneously with a Certificate of Occupancy for new units coming into existence subsequent to October 1, 1975, shall be assigned an expiration date which is thirty-six (36) months after its date of issuance. (b) Every Certificate of Compliance shall expire upon the -5- RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves date of whichever of the following events occurs first: (1) The expiration date stamped on the Certificate. (2) The date stated in a violation notice for correction in the event that an inspection subsequent to the issuance of a Certificate of Compliance reveals a violation of the housing code and said violation is not corrected in the time allotted by the violation notice. (3) That date thirty (30) days after the date of closing and subsequent transfer of owner- ship of the property. Sec. 7-506 Expiration of Temporary Certificate of Compliance Every Temporary Certificate of Compliance shall expire upon the expiration date which is stamped on it, which shall be the date by which, in the opinion of the Building Inspector, the work necessary to correct the violations listed in the violation notice which accompanied the Temporary Certificate can reasonably be performed. In no event, however, shall that expiration date be less than thirty (30) days after the date of issuance of the Temporary Certificate. Furthermore, the expiration date may be extend- ed for good cause if mutually agreed to by the Building Inspector and the owner. Sec.7-507 Application for Renewal of Certificate of Compliance Every owner shall, ~ithin sixty (60) days prior to the expiration date indicated on the Certificate of Compliance issued for the rental property which he owns, apply to the Building Inspector for the issuance of a new Certificate. Sec. 7-508 Transfer of Ownership (a) Upon transfer of ownership of the property for which the Certificate of Compliance was issued, it shall be required -6- RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves of the new owner that he make an application for a new Certificate of Compliance within thirty (30) days after the transfer of ownership. A Certificate of Compliance shall be issued, without charge and with- out re-inspection, for the subject rental property reflecting the change of ownership, and it shall be stamped with an expiration date identical to the former Certificate of Compliance for that rental property. If such transfer of ownership should occur within sixty (60) days prior to the expiration date stamped on the Certificate of Compliance, the new owner at his election may choose to make application for an receive, after proper inspection and payment of a fee, a renewed Certificate of Compliance reflecting the change of ownership. (b) A prospective seller of rental property, or a prospective buyer with the written permission of the pro- spective seller, r~ay apply for a new Certificate of Compliance at any time, and the~spector,upon inspection and receipt of the appropriate inspection fee, shall issue a new Certificate, or Temporary Certificate, of Compliance, as the case may be. Sec. 7-509 Certificate of Compliance Inspection Fees (a) The following inspection fees shall be charged prior to the issuance of every Certificate of Compliance, whether as an original certificate or a renewal certif-- icate: (1) For those rental properties whose units are rented for periods of sixty (60) days or more -7- RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves (long term rental), the inspection fee shall be Ten ($10.~0) Dollars per dwelling unit. (2) For those rental properties whose units are rented for periods of less than sixty (60) days (short term rental), the inspection fee shall be Twenty-Five ($25.90) Dollars per unit. (3) Whenever an application for a Certificate of Compliance is made for a structure containing both long term and short term rental units, the fee charged shall be the sum of the fees imposed by subparagraphs (1) and (2) multiplied by the total number of each short and long term rental units. (b) When a notice of violation is served, the Building Inspector may charge a fee of Fifteen ($15.00) Dollars for every reinspection made. (c) Whenever the owner of rental property shall legally change the use of his structure by the increase of dwelling units, ke shall make application for an amendment to his Certificate (or Temporary Certificate) of Compliance reflecting the new units and paying the inspection fees attributable to such increase. The amend- ment shall expire at the same time as the original Certificate (or Temporary Certificate) of Compliance. If an owner should reduce the number of dwelling units no refund shall be provided. (d) No inspection fees shall be charged to the owners of any rental property which has been officially -8- RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves certified as low income rental units by any local official housing authority in accordance with the relevant guidelines adopted by such authority. The owners of such property, however, shall be subject to any housing or zoning codes intended to be enforced by this Article. Sec. 7-510 Availability of Certificate of Compliance Each Certificate of Compliance shall be available for inspection by any interested party at all times. Sect. 7-511 Reference to Zoning Code Provisions Whenever reference is made in this Article to zoning code provisions, the scope of inquiry and en- forcement by the Building Inspector under this Article shall be limited to a determination as to whether the rental use is permitted by said code and whether such code permits the number and type of occupancy in said rental dwelling unit. The provisions of this Article shall not be permitted to be used to enforce zoning code pro- visions not related to the number and type of occupancy of the rental properties affected. Sec, 7-512 Right of Inspection Not Limited ~othing herein shall be construed to limit the right of the Building Inspector to inspect premises as may otherwise be permitted by law. Sec. 7-513 violations and Penalties Any owner who violates any provision of this Article shall be, for each offense, punished by a fine of not exceeding Three Hundred ($300.00) Dollars -9- RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves or imprisonment for a period of not more than ninety (90) days, or both such fine and imprison- ~ent. Each day any violation continues shall con- stitute a separate offense. The imposition of any penalty hereunder shall not preclude the City of Aspen from instituting any appropriate action or proceeding to requir? compliance with the pro- visions of the housing and zoning codes. Any remedies provided for herein shall be cumulative and not exclusive, and shall be in addition to any other remedies provided by law." Section 2 If any provision of this ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provisions or applications, and to this end the provisions or applications of this ordinance are declared to be severable. Section 3 A public hearing on this ordinance shall be held on the day of , 1975, at 1 P.~i. in the City Council Chambers, Aspen City Hall, Aspen, Colorado. INTRODUCED, READ AND ORDERED published as provided by law by the City Council of the city of Aspen, at its regular meet- ing held , 1975. ATTEST: Stacy Standley III, Mayor Kathryn Hauter, City Clerk -10- RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 100 Leaves 1975. FINALLY ADOPTED AND APPROVED ON ATTEST: Stacy Standley III, Mayor Kathryn Hauter, City Clerk