How would you handle.....

[Emily C]

Hey all!
I have a fun real life scenario that I was brainstorming with a colleague yesterday, and I thought it'd be fun to get your thoughts...
For context, we do not have a property maintenance code adopted.
According to its residents, we have an apartment complex in town that is in dire need of repairs. They claim that the fire suppression system is out of compliance, and they also claim that the roof is leaking and maybe collapsing in some areas.

How do we investigate this? The owner of the building is apparently an Australian owned company, and the maintenance crew is non existent/not cooperating.
What would yall do? It is a matter of life/safety at this point, if the allegations are true.

 

[ClaxtonRR]

How do we investigate this? The owner of the building is apparently an Australian owned company, and the maintenance crew is non existent/not cooperating.
What would yall do? It is a matter of life/safety at this point, if the allegations are true.

That's one of the things that I hate about foreign property investors. We would notify the health department, which then sends out an inspector to document the findings. The report is sent to the owner with a deadline for making improvements or else they'll face hefty fines and a possible court case. It might take longer to get results when the owner lives in another country, but there's often a local go-to person, like a lawyer, agent, or management company, that acts as the US legal representative. Find that entity or person because notifying them will usually do the trick. I hope it works out.

 

[KayWard]

Here, if you live in a city, the building codes enforcement officer would document the complaints and perform an inspection. The enforcement officer has the right to do this without notifying the landlord. If you live in a rural area, it's the fire marshal who does the inspection. See if you can get the ball rolling without the owner's cooperation.

 

[Locke]

I would take a look at what you can enforce out of the adopted Fire Code in your area. That should cover many of the issues you face. IFC requires the fire system inspections, and we routinely enforce failing building conditions out of the amended IFC here. We use the IPMC largely for residential structures, but in a pinch we have used it for commercial. Our commercial structures lie under operational permits that the fire marshal's office enforces.

Example: Say your doors are failing in an older building. We might use section 1104 in the IFC for Means of Egress. They need to fix the doors based on lack of maintenance on these components. Also, worst case scenario, if a roof is failing, for example, you simply need to invoke the administrative sections out of the fire code that allow for fire official judgement. In your roof failing example, that puts responding crews in potentially unknown/unsafe (at least more than expected) conditions and the fire official can order a repair or condemn. There is a heck of a lot of leeway in the fire official judgement section. Use it carefully though, because that can be a slippery slope of the citizens calling shenanigans and saying youre too power hungry or something.

 

[Emily C]

Here, if you live in a city, the building codes enforcement officer would document the complaints and perform an inspection. The enforcement officer has the right to do this without notifying the landlord. If you live in a rural area, it's the fire marshal who does the inspection. See if you can get the ball rolling without the owner's cooperation.

Lucky for me, they're the same person! lol

 

[Emily C]

I would take a look at what you can enforce out of the adopted Fire Code in your area. That should cover many of the issues you face. IFC requires the fire system inspections, and we routinely enforce failing building conditions out of the amended IFC here. We use the IPMC largely for residential structures, but in a pinch we have used it for commercial. Our commercial structures lie under operational permits that the fire marshal's office enforces.

Example: Say your doors are failing in an older building. We might use section 1104 in the IFC for Means of Egress. They need to fix the doors based on lack of maintenance on these components. Also, worst case scenario, if a roof is failing, for example, you simply need to invoke the administrative sections out of the fire code that allow for fire official judgement. In your roof failing example, that puts responding crews in potentially unknown/unsafe (at least more than expected) conditions and the fire official can order a repair or condemn. There is a heck of a lot of leeway in the fire official judgement section. Use it carefully though, because that can be a slippery slope of the citizens calling shenanigans and saying youre too power hungry or something.

That's super helpful! Thanks for the reference to 1104.

 

[CGoodwater]

Hey all!
I have a fun real life scenario that I was brainstorming with a colleague yesterday, and I thought it'd be fun to get your thoughts...
For context, we do not have a property maintenance code adopted.
According to its residents, we have an apartment complex in town that is in dire need of repairs. They claim that the fire suppression system is out of compliance, and they also claim that the roof is leaking and maybe collapsing in some areas.

How do we investigate this? The owner of the building is apparently an Australian owned company, and the maintenance crew is non existent/not cooperating.
What would yall do? It is a matter of life/safety at this point, if the allegations are true.

We have one of our building inspectors do dwelling inspections if there is anything that is building code related. They have a form the resident fills out on what needs inspected and after the inspection, the inspector will send a letter by mail or email to the owner informing them if they are in violation of the building/fire code and what they need to fix. It seems to work very well for us.