Maplewood apartment searches may infringe property rights
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Maplewood housing ordinances, Chap. 7 Article II Sec. 7-18 (e) Annual inspection of multi-family dwellings and residential rental property. |
By Audrey Spalding
Show-Me Institute
Each year the city of Maplewood searches all of its apartments without a warrant. More specifically, apartment building landlords open each individual apartment’s doors once every year so that city officials can check for issues of human safety, such as nonworking fire alarms. The city has conducted these inspections in the name of safety since 1974, but in the process may be violating tenants’ property and privacy rights.
Two full-time building inspectors are tasked with the job, which includes yard and exterior inspections, said Anthony Traxler, Maplewood’s director of public works and assistant city manager. Traxler, who has held his position since August, said he has never heard a complaint about the inspection.
Annette Wyatt, a 43-year-old freelance writer, who has rented in Maplewood for five years, has been present for every one of her apartment’s five inspections, and knows her inspector by name. She said that she’s learned to hide strapped plugs and close her shower curtains to hide her bathtub’s rust — which she was told violates city ordinance.
“It’s an in and out five minute process,” she said. “Never felt I was invaded, just a pain in the …”
Dave Kalis, a 54-year-old writer and artist accompanying Wyatt on a walk, agreed. However, both said landlords have an obligation to inform tenants of an impending inspection.
The Maplewood ordinance that requires these inspections is simple: In order to lease a building, landlords must obtain a certificate of compliance, which expires after one year. In order to renew it, they must open that building to a search. Though the Maplewood ordinance provides for the property’s owner to be present during the inspection, it does not require that the people renting — and living in — each apartment be present.
The compulsory nature of these inspections may be a violation of tenants’ rights under the federal or state constitution, said Lee McGrath, an executive director at the Minnesota chapter of the Institute for Justice. McGrath, whose office represents a client in a Minnesota case addressing a similar rental search ordinance, said apartment residents and homeowners have equal property rights (Maplewood does not search houses on an annual basis).
“A person has the right to control who crosses the threshold to his abode regardless of the financial ownership of the abode,” McGrath said. “As a renter, you have rights that prohibit the government from freely entering your home.”
Of course, there is a procedure the government can follow to search a person’s home. For example, McGrath said, if the government wanted to search a criminal suspect’s home, it would have to have probable cause and a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
But if a tenant or landlord refuses to comply with the Maplewood annual search, the director of public works can simply seek a cease and desist order, according to the city’s ordinance (Chap. 7 Article II Sec. 7-18, cited in the sidebar). Even in that situation, the director does not have to obtain a warrant.
Mimi Mackey, who owns SPL rental services and rents an 18-unit building in Maplewood, said she notifies tenants of an impending inspection by mail and hasn’t heard any complaints. Though occasionally, she said, tenants will call concerned because they had left two doors locked when they left in the morning and came home to find only one door locked.
“It is time consuming,” Mackey said. “You’re paying someone an hourly rate to look — it’s not cost effective.” But overall, she said, she’s glad there’s an inspection process so that tenants can be assured of a certain building standard.
In theory, the inspection process assures a certain standard. In practice, Jim Hollis, a 41-year-old kitchen worker who lives in south Saint Louis, said his inspector didn’t seem concerned about his apartment’s insect problems. “He made a big deal about all the cars in the parking lot,” Hollis said.
Wyatt also mentioned the same issue. “He seemed more concerned about rust in the bathtub than with roaches,” she said.
Though some tenants may not know of the annual inspection and others consider it a pain but acquiesce, that doesn’t mean the ordinance should stand, said McGrath. “Just because one person is willing to waive their rights doesn’t mean that everyone should be forced to waive their rights.”