As I write this, it’s the last day of August, 2024, and I have been wrestling with the City of Madison Rental Licesing people for nearly two months now.
Here’s the story.
THE BACKGROUND
For this particular rental house, I have owned it for nine years, having purchased it in 2015 (near as I can remember). It has been rented out since I bought it.
The City of Madison requires a license to rent out a residence, and to obtain this license, the house must pass an inspection. The new tenant cannot get the electricity turned on until this license is issued.
For all the previous time, the house has NEVER failed an inspection. There have been some discrepancies noted, and each time, I have fixed all the noted discrepancies, and there has never been a repeat writeup on any inpection.
However, for each time I have applied for a new inspection, which is required annually or whenever we get a new tenant, I have asked the people in the Rental Licensing office for a copy of their pass-fail criteria for the inspections, so I could be sure to have the house in good shape for the inspection. I asked Betsey Hendricks, Faith Funchess, and Valeria Cotten for this, and none of them could give it to me.
The only thing they gave me was this multi-column list of things the inspector would look AT, but never what they would look FOR, and definitely could not supply me with the pass/fail criteria for any of the items on that list.
By the way, all three of these people were very nice, very pleasant, and a pleasure to deal with. However, they all were unable to give me what I requested.
This never mattered, because they always passed the house on the inspections, and said, “You need to fix these things,” and I always did.
THE SITUATION IN 2024
On July 1, 2024, I had another inspection for a new tenant in the house. The inspector was nice enough, and he pointed out three things that needed attention. Fine, I’ll take care of it.
The three items were to replace the attic light, replace the siding on the chimney, and replace the landscaping outside the kitchen window.
A few days later, I was shocked to learn he had FAILED the house on the inspection, and the office had scheduled a re-inspection of the house without consulting me or determining whether the date was acceptable.
I immediately went into that office and spoke with the person there, and said I wanted to be sure to pass the re-inspection, but I needed to know exactly what criteria the inspector would be looking for, so I could get it right and the inspector would be happy.
I told them I looked at every possible code I could find, including the International Residential Construction Code, which I understand our state uses, and could not find anywhere anything that even requires an attic light.
I asked them to please give me the relevant codes and statutes and checklists that applied to the items on this list so I could be in full compliance with them.
The main office person fetched another person, who I assume was in either the same department or somewhere in the chain of command, who said, “We need to get these done.” So I explained to her no problem, I just wanted to do them right, and so I needed the relevant regulations to do that.
Eventually, the office emailed me a 20-page PDF of the “Madison Landscaping Ordinance” of 2008, implying but not stating that this was the code they were using for the inspection. I meticulously read this code, and could only find that it applies to new construction and to developments, but nowhere did it state that it applies to residential construction.
Eventually, I got a postal letter from a person named Steve Greenough, who did not give his title or by what measure he had any authority, stating that I needed to replace the landscaping by August 11 or I could be prosecuted in the Madison Environmental Court.
WHAT I’VE DONE (the Fixes)
In the meantime, I have taken care of all the items on the inspector’s list, and have taken photos to show it.
The attic light has been replaced.
The chimney siding has been replaced and painted.
The landscaping has been replaced, to the tune of more than $600.
THE CURRENT STATUS
Thursday, August 29, I wrote a long email letter to the three people in the Madison Rental Licensing office for whom I have email addresses.
In this letter, I had four main paragraphs.
1. I asked them to reply to the letter so I know they got it.
2. I informed them I am vision and hearing impaired, and in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities act, I needed all future written communication to be in large print.
3. I described the history, as I have done above here.
4. I appealed the inspection failure. I told them that in view of the above circumstances, specifically that for 9 years I have requested pass-fail criteria and it was never furnished until AFTER I failed the inspection (and then it is questionable whether it applies), and that all repairs have been done and gave them a link to all the photos to show it, I requested them to void the inspection failure, to issue the rental license, and to cancel the requirement for me to pay an additional $250 for a re-inspection.
As of now, which is only 2 days later, I have received an email response from just one of the recipients, saying she had received this email and had forwarded it “for review and appropriate action.”
I emailed her back and asked to whom did she forwrard it?
So far, there has been no other response from the City.
Stay tuned, and I’ll keep you posted.