FULLERTON : New Law Mandates Rental Inspections

The City Council has approved a law--the first of its kind in the county--that will mandate annual inspections of rental housing in two city neighborhoods.

The inspections will be required at 80 rental housing properties and 348 units along the 300 and 400 blocks of both West Valencia Drive and West Avenue and along the 2300 block of West Baker Avenue. The city established Operation Cleanup two years ago to combat the problems of graffiti, crime, crowded apartments and pest infestation that have blemished those neighborhoods.

They will be the only residential blocks in the county to be inspected for code violations, such as overcrowding, poor maintenance and overall deterioration, on a regular basis, city officials told the council. Housing inspections elsewhere in the county are done only after complaints from residents.

The Apartment Assn. of Orange County, which opposed a stricter ordinance that the council was to have considered in January, has worked with city staff since then to ease the policy for responsible property owners.

The ordinance approved last week calls for at least one inspection of rental housing units each year. Rental housing units within a target area found to have no reportable violations after the initial code enforcement inspection, or after two subsequent annual examinations, would be exempt from further inspection.

If violations are found in any property in the target area, a written notice will be sent to the property owner ordering compliance with city codes. Any required follow-up inspections will be conducted for a maximum period of three years.

City officials say that properties in the area were most recently inspected last year. Follow-up inspections will be required at each property, possibly in the fall, according to Jinny Barton, city special code enforcement officer.