Residential Rental Inspection District Program
For years one of the challenges for Codes departments across the nation has been an inability to contact property owners, especially rental property owners. Most often the address of the owner is listed with the tax assessor’s office as being the address of the rental property. When Codes tries to contact the owner concerning a violation; that notice often doesn’t reach the owner and the violation goes uncorrected.
The Rental Inspection program establishes specific geographic areas based on a series of criteria. First, there must be a high percentage of rental units. The units have to be older properties, and the units must be deteriorated or in the process of deteriorating or subject to deterioration. The Metro Planning Commission used these criteria along with input from members of council to create the 14 rental inspection districts within Davidson County.
Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) 66-28-101 requires all owners of residential rental property to register their rental units with the Department of Codes & Building Safety. To learn more about that program, click on the link below.
All rental properties within the district will be evaluated to determine their compliance with the Property Standards code. Properties are to be inspected annually, but those properties without violations will receive a 4 year inspection waiver. If on this initial inspection a property is found to be in violation, the owner will be required to make the necessary repairs. If these repairs are made in a timely manner, then the property will not be re-inspected for another 4 years so long as the condition of the property is kept up to standard.
If a property is found to be in violation and the owner has not registered the property with Codes that owner will first be required to register and the property must be brought into compliance. This property will also be re-inspected in 12 months from the date it is brought into compliance to ensure it stays in compliance.
Codes will implement the Rental Inspection program in stages, until all fourteen districts are in the program. Inspection districts have been identified in the following areas:
- Urbandale – Nations, View Map
- Sylvan Heights
- Hadley Washington – Meharry
- North Nashville – Buena Vista – Metrocenter
- Napier – Trimble – Wedgwood / Houston
- Airport – Murfreesboro Pike
- Edgefield – Shelby Hills
- Cleveland Park – McFerrin Park
- Greenwood – Eastwood
- Vanderbilt – 21 st
- Hermitage
- South Madison
- Madison Park
- Edenwold