Indio City Council adopts new residential rental inspection program to target neighborhood blight

The Indio City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to establish a proactive residential rental inspection program designed to eliminate neighborhood blight and ensure health and safety standards for the city’s significant rental housing stock.

The ordinance requires owners of non-exempt rental properties to register with the city by March 1 of each year. The program shifts the city’s enforcement approach from a system that relies on complaints to one that includes periodic, proactive exterior inspections based on objective risk criteria.

“Currently, enforcement is largely complaint-based and the approach has limitations,” Principal Management Analyst Jose Ramirez said. “Some tenants may be reluctant to report issues and fear of retaliation from their landlords, and conditions can go unaddressed for long periods.”

Ramirez told the council that code enforcement has documented over 237 cases related to rental properties in the last two years. 

City Manager Bryan Montgomery emphasized the visual impact the ordinance aims to achieve within local neighborhoods.

“We should not be able to drive through a community or a street and look at the homes and say ‘That’s a rental, owner, rental, rental, owner,’ based on how they look,” Montgomery said. “They all need to meet the same requirements.” 

He added that landlords can’t force their renter to complete work, “You as the landlord, the property owner, you are responsible. It has to happen.”

Looking to other cities with similar successful programs, Montgomery said the improvement in property appearance and neighborhood quality is significant, “It’s night and day, property values will go up because of this effort,” he said.

The ordinance authorizes inspections of areas observable from the public right-of-way, though interior inspections may occur if a tenant provides consent or if the city obtains an administrative warrant. 

As for fees, rental owners will be required to pay an annual $100 registration and inspection fee per property. If a property fails its initial inspection, a $110 re-inspection fee will be applied to cover the city’s administrative costs.

Non-compliance with the registration requirement is subject to administrative citations. Fines are set at $100 for a first violation, $200 for a second, and $500 for a third within a 12-month period.

The new regulations will take effect 30 days after adoption.

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