Residents address rental property inspection ordinance

By: Duffy Taylor | Lynchburg News and Advance
Published: February 03, 2010

Six residents approached Amherst board members at their meeting Tuesday to weigh in on whether the board should loosen rental inspection rules in Madison Heights.
The board is considering changing the district’s current rental inspection ordinance so that inspections are required only on properties that have received complaints.
Currently, the ordinance requires an annual inspection for all rental properties as well as a $50 fee.
Several Madison Heights residents submitted a petition to the board, requesting that the board not change the current regulations, which were put in place in 2007.
Calvin Carlson was one of several Madison Heights residents who spoke out against changing the inspection rules, telling board members that he thought mandatory inspections on every rental property directly contributed to less blight in the community.
Several rental property owners in the community disagreed, however, and insisted the ordinance needed to be changed.
Rental property owner C.T. Wingfield said that he was in favor of inspections when there was a complaint filed. Beyond that, he said, the fee and inspection are an unnecessary burden on responsible tenants.
Another Madison Heights rental property owner, Michael Panzarino, said that the inspection rules were unfair to tenants, especially in the current economic climate.
Arguments in favor of the current inspection rules “sound real good but they are not reality,” he said. “My tenants are barely making ends meet right now. I’m here to stick up for my tenants.”
County Administrator Lee Lintecum addressed the concern raised at a previous board meeting that the district would no longer be eligible to receive Community Block Development Grants if the inspection ordinance was changed.
He said that Madison Heights would still be eligible to receive grant money regardless of changes to the inspection rules so long as the rental ordinance itself remained in place.
Although the rental inspection ordinance for Madison Heights was discussed in Tuesday’s meeting, no action was taken on the issue.
In other business:
A special election to fill the county treasurer position formerly held by Donald Wood has been set for Nov. 2 of this year. Wood retired from the position this past December.

Residents address rental property inspection ordinance

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