A. 
Whenever a Code Enforcement Officer has probable cause to believe that a condition exists in or around a rental building or structure which constitutes an immediate and severe threat to the health, safety or welfare of the occupants or to the public, the Code Enforcement Officer may take any necessary action, including the temporary suspension of a rental permit. The Code Enforcement Officer shall serve upon the owner or agent a written order incorporating the factual finding upon which the emergency action is based, without a prior hearing, such suspension to be effective on the date specified in the order. Any costs incurred may be assessed against the property or collected as a personal judgment pursuant to valid legal action.
B. 
Whenever a Code Enforcement Officer has probable cause to believe that a condition exists in or around a rental building or structure which threatens the health, safety or welfare of the occupants or the public, the Code Enforcement Officer may issue an order describing the condition and requiring that specified action be taken. If the owner does not comply with the order within the time specified, the Officer may authorize the taking of the action specified in the order. Any costs incurred may be assessed against the property or collected as a personal judgment pursuant to valid legal action.
C. 
A copy of the order shall be sent to the owner or agent at their last known addresses. The method by which such notice shall be given shall be that method which provides notice within the shortest practicable period of time.
A. 
A permittee who fails to correct a violation within the time period given by notice, or an owner who has been required to appear before a court of competent jurisdiction for such failure, three or more times or on three or more separate properties during an eighteen-month period may be deemed an habitual violator if found by the Code Enforcement Officer, court, or Board of Appeals, where applicable, to have failed to correct the violations without good cause. Upon finding that a permittee or owner is an habitual violator, an agent or property manager of such permittee or owner shall be deemed an habitual violator as to all of those properties.
B. 
A finding that an owner is an habitual violator shall be a basis for a court of competent jurisdiction to find probable cause for the issuance of an administrative search warrant for all properties owned or managed by the habitual violator. The fee for this unified inspection will be charged at regular inspection rates as set forth in § 188-22 . The owner may be placed on an accelerated inspection schedule by the court, thereby reducing certification periods, if the result of the unified inspection justifies such action. The fees as set forth in § 188-22 shall be charged for such inspections.
If any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause, or phrase of this chapter shall be declared invalid for any reason whatsoever, such decision shall not affect the remaining portions of this chapter, which shall continue in full force and effect, and to this end the provisions of this chapter are hereby declared to be severable.
This chapter shall take effect immediately upon filing with the Secretary of State.