Property Maintenance Code

Written by Susan Bailey, MS

Every town has a property maintenance code which applies to the look and care of properties. While the code can become a pain at times, with inspectors sending notices of violations, it is a good idea. The reason it is a good idea is because it forces property owners to keep their properties rentable.

The problem comes from the tenants who do not take care of the property while they are living there. For example, our company gets a lot of these property violations in the summer for grass that is too high. If the grass grows higher than 10 inches, and an inspector sees it, we get the notice. Mowing the grass is the responsibility of the tenant and if it does not get done, we hear about it.

Thus it now becomes a problem for the property owner who has to track down the tenant and explain that the grass has to be cut. If the tenant does not have a lawn mower, then this is another problem. The property owner will either have to mow the grass himself, or hire someone else to mow it. If this happens, the tenant will get charged for each time the grass gets mowed.

If the property owner would just happen to not mow the grass (not sure why he would choose that though), then the inspector can file something at the magistrate’s office. If the owner allows it to go through the court system, then basically the owner will end up with fines and court costs. It seems better to just mow the grass than have the inspector go to the magistrate.

Of course, high grass is not the only reason that inspectors can violate a property owner. If there is inside furniture on the porch, if the tenant uses the porch or yard as storage, then the owner will get a violation. If there are broken windows, we can get violated.

My landlord actually contacted me one year about the fence I put up. It was too close to the main street. Fence that is over 4 feet tall cannot be within 25 feet of the street. So I moved it. Now I took care of that problem, the owner did not have to, but he did receive the violation because of my fence. As a tenant, it was my responsibility to correct the violation.

The property maintenance code is useful to make owners keep their property habitable. It can also help tenants to understand that throwing things on the porch or having garbage laying around the yard is no bueno.