By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
With less than two months until the deadline to submit rental housing inspections to the City of Bowling Green, local landlords have already submitted less than a quarter of their inspections.
City Planning Director Heather Sayler reported to the City Council last week that 7,172 rental units have been registered with the city, but because the deadline for exterior and interior inspections is Oct. 1, only 1,400 self-inspections have been submitted so far.
Council President Mark Hollenbaugh noted that the city has created several reliefs for landlords in the registration and inspection process.
“I can only speak for myself,” Hollenbaugh said. “But I have no interest in extending that deadline.”
Bowling Green’s rental registration and inspection program was created after four decades of debate between city officials, landlords and tenants.
In May 2021, the City Council took the first step toward regulating rental housing construction in the city by passing an ordinance requiring rental housing owners to register their properties with the city.
The ordinance requiring inspections of rental properties had to fight through months of further debate before being passed later that year.
The city has worked with landlords who initially opposed any registration and then because many missed the deadline to register their rental properties. The City Council listened when landlords protested inspections to ensure the safety of their rental properties and agreed to allow landlords to conduct the inspections themselves. Then the Council extended the inspection deadline twice as landlords complained that the inspection checklists were too burdensome.
City Attorney Hunter Brown revised the self-inspection forms to make them easier to complete but still cover the required criteria.
The original deadline for submitting self-inspection reports was October 1, 2023. At the request of landlords, the City pushed that date back to December 31, 2023. At further urging from landlords, the City then extended the deadline even further, to October 1, 2024.
Now, just before the extended deadline, less than a quarter of the self-inspections have been submitted to the city.
Sayler says there is currently no fine for landlords who miss that deadline, but those who fail to file on time risk losing the right to conduct their own inspections — and then having to submit to contractually required inspections.
So far, only a few of the 1,400 self-inspection reports filed with the city have listed any problems with the apartments, Sayler said. When contacted by city staff, those landlords reportedly said they had misunderstood the checklist and were actually following the regulations, she added.
City ordinance does not allow the city to verify the validity of landlord self-inspections unless a tenant files a complaint or submits it to the Wood County Health Department or Building Inspector.
The inspection submission forms will only be accepted through the City’s online rental inspection portal. (The assigned username and password were previously sent via email and mail.) Those who have already submitted the checklists for their rental units will be in compliance and will not need to resubmit the checklists in 2024.
The next deadline for those subject to compliance is to submit the required annual Interior Self-Inspection form, due sometime between June 1, 2025, and October 1, 2025, and to submit the required biennial Exterior Self-Inspection form, due sometime between June 1, 2026, and October 1, 2026.
Questions may be directed to the Planning Department by phone at 419-354-6218 or email the BG Rental Program.
