West Orange has passed two ordinances in the last year regarding rental properties in the city. Ordinance 230H transferred the billing for garbage collection from the renter’s name to the landlord’s name. Code Enforcement Officer Dean Fuller says the city checked county records to find properties that did not have homestead exemptions and then mailed about 550 letters to potential landlords of those properties. Upon checking it was determined there are about 200 to 300 rental properties in West Orange. Fuller adds that as of last week’s deadline for making the change in garbage billing about half to three-quarters of the landlords have complied with the ordinance and made the change. Those who fail to comply could be served a summons by a West Orange Policeman to appear before West Orange Municipal Judge Gene Roberts and face charges of violating a city ordinance with a possible fine.
Landlords have until April to register their rental properties with the Code Enforcement Office. Fuller’s office will then inspect them to ensure the properties are up to city codes. Currently, Fuller has three stacks of rental properties: those that have passed inspection; those that have paid their registration and waiting to be inspected; and lastly those that have just registered but not paid the registration fee. There is a $50 registration fee required by Ordinance 414. Fuller indicates that properties that fail his inspection are given an opportunity to get into compliance before a second inspection is performed. Failure to get the property to code can result in a $50 re-inspection fee or a summons to appear before Judge Roberts. At least 20 other cities in Texas have rental registration ordinances as do several cities in other parts of the United States.
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