The Housing Officer is hereby authorized and directed to make inspections to determine the condition of dwellings, dwelling units, rooming units and premises located within this Borough of Marietta in order that he/she may perform his duties of safeguarding the health and safety of the occupants of dwellings and other buildings of the general public. For the purpose of making such inspections, the Housing Officer is hereby authorized to enter, examine and survey at all reasonable times all dwellings, dwelling units, rooming units and all other buildings and other premises. The owner or occupant of every building, dwelling, dwelling unit and rooming unit, or the person in charge thereof, shall give the Housing Officer free access to such building, dwelling, dwelling unit or rooming unit and its premises at all reasonable times for the purpose of such inspection, examination and survey. Failure to grant said free access may result in inspection by the Bureau of Occupational and Industrial Safety for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Every occupant of a dwelling or dwelling unit shall give the owner thereof or his agent or employee access to any part of such building, dwelling or dwelling unit or its premises at all reasonable times for the purpose of making such repairs or alterations as are necessary to effect compliance with the provisions of this chapter or with any lawful rule or regulation adopted or any lawful order issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
Any dwelling unit and/or rooming unit which is not owner-occupied and which is rented or leased to another person or persons shall be inspected at least annually by the Housing Officer. It shall be unlawful for any owner of any such dwelling unit and/or rooming unit to rent or lease said dwelling unit and/or rooming unit to another person or persons until said unit has been inspected and a rental permit issued in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
All owners of dwelling units and/or rooming units described in § 184-4 shall register such units with the Borough Secretary within 30 days of the enactment of this chapter. Thereafter, any dwelling unit and/or rooming unit which subsequently becomes non-owner-occupied and which is rented or leased to a person or persons other than the owner shall be registered by the owner with the Borough Secretary. Failure to register according to the provisions of this Article shall be deemed to be a violation of this chapter.
[Amended 2-13-1990 by Ord. No. 90-1]
A. 
Subsequent to the inspection provided for in § 184-4, the Housing Officer shall declare, in writing, either that the dwelling unit and/or rooming unit in question does or does not conform to the standards established by this chapter, as amended. If the Housing Officer declares that a dwelling unit and/or rooming unit does conform to said standards, the Borough Secretary shall issue a rental permit to the owner of said dwelling unit and/or rooming unit upon payment by the owner of the inspection/permit fee set forth in § 184-7 hereinafter. Said rental permit shall be valid for only the calendar year in which issued. It is the intent of this chapter that each unit described in this section shall be inspected at least once during any calendar year. For this reason, the rental permit issued shall not be good for one year from the date of issuance but shall be good during the calendar year in which issued.
B. 
If the Housing Officer declares that a dwelling unit and/or rooming unit does not conform to the standards set forth in this Article, the Housing Officer shall notify the owner of said unit or units of the ways in which the property does not conform and shall give that owner a specified reasonable period of time within which to bring such nonconformities up to code standards. Upon receiving such notice, the owner shall make all required corrections within the time specified by the Housing Officer or shall request a hearing before the Housing Hearing Board, all of which shall be in accordance with the procedures set forth in Article III of this chapter.
C. 
Upon completion of the required corrections, the owner shall notify the Housing Officer, who shall conduct a follow-up inspection to confirm that all required corrections have been made, and, upon the Housing Officer so confirming, the rental permit shall be issued in accordance with this section.
D. 
If the owner of the dwelling unit and/or rooming unit does not bring the unit up to code as of the time of the follow-up inspection, the Housing Officer can proceed with the enforcement provisions of this chapter, including but not limited to declaring a violation and issuing a citation pursuant to § 184-30.
E. 
No permit shall be issued for any dwelling unit and/or rooming unit until the Housing Officer declares that the unit conforms to the standards established by this chapter and until all fees called for in § 184-7 have been paid. Failure to obtain a permit shall be grounds for the Borough of Marietta to declare a violation under this chapter and issue a citation under § 184-30. Prolonged failure or refusal of an owner to obtain a rental permit shall be grounds for the Borough of Marietta to terminate the right of the owner to use such property as a rental unit.
[Amended 1-8-1985 by Ord. No. 85-1; 12-8-1987 by Ord. No. 87-15; 2-13-1990 by Ord. No. 90-1; 4-13-1999]
All owners of dwelling units and/or rooming units as defined in this chapter shall pay to the Borough of Marietta, as part of the inspection process and issuance of the rental permit set forth in the preceding sections, a fee in the amount to be established by official resolution of the Borough Council.
If a rental permit expires and has not been reissued solely as a result of the Housing Officer's failure to perform the required annual inspection, no owner of such a dwelling unit and/or rooming unit may be prosecuted for failure to have a rental permit for the dwelling unit and/or rooming unit in question.