Grandview MO- city inspections for rental properties

[Laura Williams]

Hi! 

Have a question for landlords and property managers in Grandview MO.  Do you or most landlords comply with the city ordinance to get their properties inspected & registered by the city? What does the inspection process involve? What happens if you don't do it? Does or can the city do anything to you if you don't?

Asking for a friend who was told by his PM (reputable) to ignore it and that most investors don't bother to get their Grandview properties inspected/registered with the city. 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts

[Blake R.]

I think you are right, Laura, that it is the right thing to do. But more transpired after my last post that I will share here for the benefit of other Grandview investors. I had the city re-inspect the property after completing the requested modification. It was electrical work and the city re-inspected same day while the power was turned off. They sent a different inspector this time, and the new inspector re-inspected the whole house and found that a previous owner had done work on the basement without permits. So then the city would not authorize the power company to turn the power back on until I found a contractor to submit permits for that work themselves. So I had to pay for my tenants to stay in a hotel for 1.5weeks during that process. Tenants obviously were not happy and in addition to paying for their hotel I gave them additional rent credit for the inconveniences. 

In the future I will know to have the city inspect during the due diligence period for a purchase rather than after the purchase. This was a newbie mistake on my part, and it turned into a costly nightmare.