Slumlords no longer

If you rent an apartment, your landlord should be keeping the place to a certain living standard. It should have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, acceptable air quality, proper plumbing and safe electrical wiring. The heat should work and trash can’t be blocking the fire escape.

Though apartment buildings are supposed to meet certain codes and standards, enforcing those rules often is difficult. Many Maine municipalities don’t keep a full-time employee solely for the purpose of performing routine inspections, so violations often are discovered when a first responder present for an emergency sees the inside of an apartment or a tenant complains.

Rockland has added another way to get apartments into compliance: Since January 2010, buildings with three or more units must be inspected during their sale process. Though the ordinance may be burdensome for some landlords trying to sell — as they could be required to make expensive repairs at a time when they’ve seen their property values decrease — it ultimately will benefit them, their tenants and potential buyers.

The ordinance may become a blueprint for other municipalities. For example, while the Bangor code enforcement office has no set date or plan for a similar apartment inspection program, it has considered one in order to address safety issues.

Parts of the Rockland ordinance have proven controversial. For example, in order to aid a quick escape in case of a fire, the city follows rules that require apartment buildings to have staircase steps of a certain size. Steps serving more than two units in a new building must have a maximum height of 7 inches and minimum depth of 11 inches. Those within a unit must have a maximum 7¾-inch rise and minimum 10-inch depth. In existing buildings, the maximum rise is 8 inches, with a depth of 9 inches. All stairs should be 3 feet wide.

Also, unless the place has a sprinkler system, windows in a habitable space, such as a bedroom, must have 5.7 square feet of clear opening to allow people to climb out.

Upgrades may be inconvenient, but there’s more to consider. The city’s ordinance allows a choice. Either the owner brings the building into compliance or the prospective buyer agrees to a written plan that outlines what will be corrected and when, according to Rockland Code Enforcement Officer John Root Jr. As long as progress is being made, the city will give the owner or potential buyer a reasonable amount of time necessary to make the improvements.

It’s important for sellers to have that flexibility. Then they can decide whether they would rather sell a noncompliant building at a lower price or a compliant building at a higher price.

Inspecting apartment buildings during the sales process makes sense, as a smart buyer should be doing it whether there’s an ordinance or not. Renovating a building so it meets code might be more expensive up front but it could save money when it comes to insurance rates, as there’s less of a threat of damage or loss. There’s also the question of liability; someone injured in a building that does not meet code could sue the owner.

People who own old apartment buildings will be most affected by Rockland’s ordinance. But they could consider an alternative: The rules could be stricter. Richard McCarthy, assistant state fire marshal, has a good way to describe codes: “If you’re talking about climbing a mountain, the code is not the mountain peak. It’s the bottom of the mountain. It’s where you start.”

Ultimately the building owner should be considering the price of something that has no dollar figure: a human life. Whether it’s being sold or not, an apartment building should meet the minimum state codes for basic safety reasons. It’s better to face the cost and time of doing renovations than the knowledge that you didn’t do everything possible to prevent the tragedy of a tenant dying or being injured in an unfortunate incident.