Richmond considers rental housing inspections

Late last year, Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority CEO Steven Nesmith announced the acquisition of Grace Place, an affordable apartment tower in Monroe Ward notorious for its unsanitary conditions. In 2021, the litany of code violations documented at the property actually forced its dozens of residents to be kicked to the curb for over a month with no warning.

To make sure such a situation does not repeat itself in Richmond, 5th District Councilwoman Stephanie Lynch has proposed a rental inspection program for Virginia’s capital. After the idea’s approval by a City Council subcommittee in February, its members have just two months to present a final proposal for such a program.

Although no details have been finalized, experience from other Virginia localities suggests the rental inspection program would require both interior and exterior inspections every time a property within the district is offered up for lease as well as follow-up inspections every one to three years thereafter.

Legal landscape

The Code of Virginia allows the establishment of special rental inspection districts in certain circumstances: if a locality determines that the dwelling units in that area are “blighted or in the process of deteriorating” or “in the need of inspection by the building department to prevent deterioration.” Thirteen other localities across the commonwealth already have such inspection districts, including Newport News, Roanoke, and Williamsburg.

The closest example of such a program lies just over the city line in Henrico where rental inspections at Glenwood Farms have documented hundreds of violations over just the past two years. Legislation to create such a special inspection district in Richmond has gone through several iterations over the last few years, but this time Lynch feels confident the program will be approved.

“We’re not asking property managers or landlords to do anything besides comply with the existing law,” she said. “There is still a lot of room for stakeholder input and feedback, but we feel it is the responsibility of anyone collecting a rent check that they would, at a minimum, have their buildings up to code. Even that has sparked a lot of feelings and in some cases outrage by property owners and landlords.”

Current conditions

Although residents can report violations to the City, property owners may refuse entry to the premises to anyone besides the tenants. Without access to the interior of a dwelling unit, it can be near impossible for authorities to pursue code violations.

With home prices high and rents still rising in Richmond (median asking rent in the region hit $1,749 last month), Christie Marra of the Virginia Poverty Law Center is not surprised that the issue of horrible housing conditions has finally gone mainstream. With inventory tight, landlords have never had more power. Still, to her, reforms like rental inspections are a day late and a dollar short.

“I’m happy that elected officials are seeing with open eyes that we have some places that are quite frankly slums,” Marra said. “This is not a new problem, and it is certainly not limited to the cities of Virginia. What is different now is that it is not homegrown slumlords but out-of-state corporations whose business model is to buy low rent properties to use as collateral without any intention of ever making repairs.”

Glenwood Farms in Henrico County is one such example of a property owned by an out-of-state corporate landlord with a history of unsafe living conditions and hundreds of violations in a special rental inspection district.

Richmond residents hoping an inspection program could improve their quality of life will have to wait on a final Council proposal, due by June 30, and then recommendations from the mayor, expected early this coming autumn. The program will also likely have to be approved by City Council’s land use subcommittee. If approved, implementation would then have its own time frame.

“City Hall understands the importance of this, and they have seen it work in 13 other localities across Virginia and in other states,” Lynch said. “City officials have been out in the community and have seen the substandard conditions, so they see the injustice.”