Valparaiso Landords

Will you pass the test?

I had the opportunity to listen to Bill Oeding from the City of Valparaiso this week at our Housing Coalition meeting held at the United Way offices. The main topic as the new Rental Property Registration program that is being proposed to city council. The program will establish and ordinance for rental properties and their owners within Valparaiso city limits. The plan includes a online registration and required inspection for each unit of the house or complex. There will be a fee for each unit owned ($10.00 +/- ) and a inspection fee ($25.00 +/-) upon completion of the inspection. Further discussion indicated that the inspection process would require the unit to have minimum requirements to pass. These items include working plumbing and electrical, non leaking roof, and overall safe living environment. If the unit doesn’t pass these bare minimums there will be a plan of correction and the property would be re-inspected in 30 days. If the landlord fails to repair the issues there will be implementation of penalties and fines. The program is currently in a committee comprised of city officials and rental property owners and should move forward to city council in the next few months. I took the opportunity to look at two such policies that are working in two other Indiana cities, Bloomington and West Lafayette. The are linked below.

Based upon what was presented the concept appears to be straight forward intended to provide safe rental housing options in Valparaiso. Overall I believe that the rental properties in Valparaiso will pass the minimum requirements but for those that won’t it allows officials enforce compliance to make rental units habitable. I can’t imagine living in an environment without running water or a roof that consistently leaks with numerous complaints going to the landlord with no resolve, but those cases do exist in Valparaiso. A common sense ordinance to protect a renter in these substandard environments is warranted.

Bloomington Rental Housing Policy

West Lafayette Rental Housing Policy