[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of Federalsburg as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 7-6-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-09]
The purpose of this article is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the Town residents and to prevent deterioration of the housing stock in the Town.
As used in this article, the following terms have the meanings indicated.
Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity.
Any building or portion of a building in which a person resides in which consideration of money or other goods or services are paid or provided to the owner of such building or the owner's authorized representative or other tenant. This definition shall include the letting or rental of any single-family residential dwelling unit, or multifamily residential dwelling unit.
A.
It shall be unlawful for any person to let any residential rental dwelling unit within the Town without first having obtained a license for said unit as hereinafter provided.
B.
Within 60 days after the effective date of this article, the legal owner of record shall make written application to the Town for a rental unit license upon such form or forms as the Town shall from time to time designate. Such application shall be submitted together with a nonrefundable rental license fee, as approved and authorized by the Mayor and Council.
A.
All residential rental properties shall be subject to periodic inspections as deemed necessary by the Town's Code Enforcement Officer, or other designee, to determine if they are in conformance with the Town Code and applicable ordinances, laws or other regulations.
B.
If an inspection reveals a violation of an applicable provision of the Town Code, including any building code, property maintenance code or minimum livability code in effect within the Town limits, the Code Enforcement Officer shall provide written notification to the owner and to the occupant of the rental unit. The notice shall contain a time period within which the violation is to be corrected, which period shall be a minimum of 10 days unless the violation involves an immediate threat to health or safety, whereupon a shorter time frame may be specified by the Town's Enforcement Officer. The Code Enforcement Officer shall reinspect the premises to confirm that the violations have been corrected.
A license may be revoked or denied by the Code Enforcement Officer if an owner, after the passage of the notice period described in the previous section, fails to eliminate violations of the Town Code. Revocation or denial of a license shall be in addition to, and not in substitution for, such other penalties as may be provided for said violations elsewhere in this Code or by state law. In addition to any other remedy which may be available in the event of a violation of the provisions of this chapter, the Town's designated Code Enforcement Officer may seek an injunction to prevent the renting, or offering to rent, of rental dwelling units in the Town which do not have a license issued under this article.
Licenses shall expire one year from the date of issuance and are renewable annually. Applications for renewal shall be made at least 60 days prior to the expiration date.
Licenses issued under this article shall be produced on the demand of a tenant or prospective tenant and shall be made available at reasonable times for examination by an authorized agent of the Town.
The Mayor and Council is hereby authorized to enact a resolution establishing a schedule of license, inspection, and reinspection fees pertaining to the administration of this article. Any unpaid license fee or reinspection fee shall be subject to interest and penalties as periodically established by the Mayor and Council for unpaid sums due to the Town.
Any violation of this article shall be considered a municipal infraction, and any person violating any provision of this article shall be assessed a fine of $100 for the first infraction, and up to $200 for each subsequent infraction. Each separate violation shall constitute a separate offense. Each day that any violation shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.
