On August 13, 2018, the City of Duluth Mayor and City Council approved a Multifamily Rental Housing Inspection Ordinance in line with other municipalities around metro-Atlanta. The Mayor and Council felt strongly that it was important to adopt and enforce, in all respects, minimum standards to maintain the quality and stability of multifamily rental housing; to correct and prevent conditions that adversely affect, or are likely to adversely affect the life, health, safety and general welfare of occupants of multifamily rental housing; to provide minimum standards for multifamily rental housing; to provide standards of maintenance of multifamily rental housing to prevent blight; and to preserve the value of land and buildings throughout the City.
The Ordinance requires that all owners of multifamily rental dwellings or multifamily rental units within the City that receive income for use of four (4) or more such dwellings or units and meet the requirements of O.C.G.A. § 48-13-5 for having a location or office within the City (i) shall obtain an Occupational Tax Certification from the City pursuant to Chapter 7 of the Duluth Municipal Code and (ii) shall provide to the City, prior to January 1, 2020, a code compliance certificate covering 100% of the multifamily rental units within the 12 month period immediately preceding the date of the certification. When a newly constructed or significantly renovated multifamily rental dwelling receives a certificate of occupancy, additional inspections on said unit pursuant to this section are not required for five (5) years. The Building Official shall determine if renovated units qualify for the five (5) year grace period based on the scope of renovations. After five (5) years has elapsed, regular annual inspection of 20% of units shall commence and continue.
All owners, property managers and maintenance employees for all of our 18 apartment complexes were invited to attend an information open house on January 16, 2019 from 8:30am-10:00am in the Community Room at Duluth City Hall located on 3167 Main Street, Duluth, Georgia 30096. This was a great opportunity to learn more about the program and meet with City staff as well as prequalified third party inspectors.
Additional information on the Multifamily Rental Housing Inspection Program can be found below:
